Worthy Adversaries
by A Rose By Any Other Name
Summary: COMPLETE! LJ lovehate preOOTP, edited and reposted with a recurring magical cabin, invisible bottles and dreams, forays into psychology, and a rather large dragon.
1. Chapter One

**A/N I'm keeping my promise to go back and edit. Hopefully I ought to get rid of all the little mistakes and generally make the story more believable. Whether I did that or didn't, and whether or not you've read this before, I hope you enjoy it. I'll be posting a chapter a day every day that I can... some days will be impossible, because I'll be going away, so expect this story to span over three weeks. Please leave a review!**

Summary: This is a Lily/James fic. It is love/hate, and it's pre-OOTP, as well. I wrote it three years ago, and it's fixed up, edited, and hopefully a lot better for all that work. 

Disclaimer: I own nothing in this story except the plot. Most recognisable characters belong to J K Rowling, and anything else that isn't hers could very possibly have accidentally been stolen from somebody else. If it's yours, I apologise... let me know and I'll credit you with it. The plot's mostly mine (I can't avoid all the cliches, and I don't want to claim them), so ask permission before borrowing parts of it. One thing I certainly didn't intend to borrow was the name 'Trinity.' Apparently, there's a character in The Matrix with the same name... and as I've never watched more than five consecutive minutes of the movie, I had no idea. I won't change her name now, because it's a part of who she is, but don't think Trinity-from-the-movie when you read about her.

_Chapter One_

  
  
The girl glared ferociously at the boy. He glared right back, his stare just as fierce, just as angry. Lily Evans had long red hair, and large, attractive green eyes. The boy was just as handsome as she was pretty, his untidy black hair adding rather than detracting to his strong face. But neither was taking any notice of the other's good looks at that moment. Both were too furious for that.  
  
"I said, what were you doing? Explain this instant, or you will both have another detention on top of the one you have already received!" That was Professor McGonagall. Great. Now Lily had to come up with another excuse. She hated getting anyone in trouble, even someone as annoying as James. Well, she was a model student. Hopefully this wouldn't mar her record too badly.  
  
"Well, you see, James and I..." she trailed off. What could she say? James had three pairs of ears and a very long beard. Lily didn't want to know what she looked like. Probably worse. James wasn't very good with curses, but that was to her disadvantage this time. His curses usually went wrong, which meant that Lily ended up a lot worse.  
  
"We don't really get on, Professor. And I..." she stopped again. It was partly her fault, but she didn't want to say that she had started it. She had an inspiration.  
  
"What happened Professor, was that I was trying to Transfigure my fern into the Spanish moss plant, only when I stood I accidentally tripped on my shoelace and I ended up pointing my wand at James. He thought I'd done it on purpose, and acted in self defense... and of course I reacted when I realised somebody was shooting spells at me... it was accident and instinct, Professor."  
  
_Now, I just hope that James doesn't think to contradict me. If the truth got out, then we'd both be in a lot more trouble._  
  
"Very well." McGonagall said in a stern voice. "Don't do it again. Ten points from Gryffindor each, and you have a detention tomorrow." She looked at Lily. "You will both meet the caretaker outside his office at ten o'clock tomorrow night. You may go."  
  
Lily nodded, accepting the punishment. It was slightly amusing. McGonagall had turned to Lily to specify where they would go tomorrow, she knew that Lily had never received a detention in the three years that she had been here. This was Lily and James's fourth year. James nodded too. They both turned and left for Gryffindor common room.  
  
"That didn't happen, and you know it." James said as soon as they were out of earshot.  
  
"Oh, and you'd prefer I'd tell her the truth and we'd both be in much more trouble? We can go back now if you'd like." Lily couldn't stand James. The first time he'd met her he'd pulled a prank on her. True, he did that to everyone, but no one did that to Lily Evans and got away with it. Revenge had been on both of their minds ever since.  
  
"You are just impossible." James snarled at her.  
  
"Just because you couldn't think of an excuse! You, who must have been in detention at least fifty time in the past three years!" With that, Lily stormed off. It was a bit of an exaggeration. James had only been in detention twenty-six times, that she knew of. Lily reached her dormitory and flung herself onto her bed. Immediately, seven faces appeared, and demanded to know what had really happened. Sighing, she began recounting the story. A short way away, James was doing the same in his own dorm.  
  
"I was reaching around Lily to curse Snape, but Lily moved and came straight in line with my wand. It was too late, and she got the curse. She got bright green freckles. She cursed me with the ears, so I retaliated." James said to his three friends, Remus, Sirius, and Peter.  
  
"What did you do?" Sirius asked eagerly. James pulled a face.  
  
"I tried to turn her hair green. It didn't work, but it didn't backfire, either. Her hair stood straight up in the air. Then she gave me the beard, and I was about to do something else when McGonagall came back in and dismissed you lot. She gave us detention, and Lily made up some story about the whole thing being an accident. I don't know if she bought it, but she didn't question us again. We just ended up minus twenty points and with a detention each."  
  
Sirius and Peter both laughed, but Remus just shook his head.  
  
"One day James, you'll get in real trouble. And Professor Dumbledore won't be able to get you out of it," He warned, although he had a small smile on his face. "Oh, and if I were you, I'd go to the hospital wing to get rid of the ears and beard." James blushed; he had forgotten about his extra body parts.  
  
"I'll go." As James was walking into the common room, he saw Lily coming out of her dorm. He ignored her until she followed him out of the portrait hole.  
  
"What are you doing?" James asked irritably.  
  
"I'm getting rid of these stupid freckles," she replied angrily. James saw that her hair had been smoothed, but the freckles remained. She didn't speak to him again, and they both marched up to the hospital wing in silence.  
  
The next day, James was still angry with Lily. Okay, so he had cursed her, but she should have realised he was aiming at Snape. She'd had it in for him ever since he first saw her. It wasn't his fault Sirius thought it would be funny to colour her hair in red and green stripes for Christmas. James had tried to dissuade Sirius, but he hadn't listened. James sighed. Just then, the bell rang, and James and the rest of the class (unfortunately including Lily) left the Transfiguration classroom. James liked Transfiguration; it was one of the things he could do naturally. Henoticed, with some amusement, that Lily wasn't so good. She wasn't the worst in the class (that fell to Crabbe, Goyle, and a Gryffindor boy called Fred Travis), but she wasn't exactly brilliant. James left for the Quidditch pitch. They trained once a week, on Friday nights - tonight.  
  
James did his Quidditch practice, ate dinner in the Great Hall, and then went up to the common room to do his homework. He had most of it finished when Remus tapped him on the shoulder.  
  
"Almost time for your detention," he said, grinning. James looked at his watch. It was three minutes to ten. He glared at Remus, and ran all the way to the caretaker's office. Lily was already there, as was Filch. James was just in time. Filch seemed upset that he had missed a chance to give James another detention for being late.  
  
"Hmph. Well, you two have to address letters that are being sent out to all of the students next year. You'll do it in the office next to Professor Dumbledore's. Let's go." James pulled a face at Filch's back. Of all the things he hated doing, addressing letters was the worst. He could've sworn he saw Lily smile at the face he pulled. But it flickered back instantly as she remembered that the boy she was smiling at was her sworn enemy. James put on a long, exaggerated sigh, loud enough for Lily to hear, but not for Filch.  
  
"Great. Of all the detentions I like, addressing letters has to be the best," he muttered. Lily ignored him. Well, what had he expected? She and her friends were the only girls who didn't hang onto his every word, and she was the only girl who gave as good as she got in insults and practical jokes. Since she was a lot better than he in Charms, that sometimes proved to be a problem.  
  
The rest of the school year sped by. The enmity between Lily and James rose to peaks never before discovered, although the teachers rarely found out. Both James's and Lily's friends grew expert in removing curses that each had placed on the other. By the end of the school year, both Lily and James received three more detentions each. Lily thought it amazing that the teachers didn't catch on more often, but James was expert at coming up with excuses, and avoiding the teaches' wrath.  
  
The next few years passed much in that way for both Lily and James. They were both made prefects, much to their surprise. Although James pulled pranks all the time, and Lily never failed to retaliate, neither had ever done anything really serious, and both had top marks in all of their classes. They both came first in the academics, because Lily's Transfiguration wasn't 'all that great' as she put it, and James's Charms definitely needed work. Despite this, both passed all their exams with flying colours. Despite the fact that she had been made a prefect, it came as a great shock to Lily when she found out that she had been made Head Girl.  
  
She would never forget the day she stood at Hogwarts platform 9 ¾, and the look on her friends' faces as they came running up to her. Kate ran up to hug her, but stopped a few feet away.  
  
"Head Girl!" she shrieked. "Lily's Head Girl!"  
  
Mia paused in her steps, and looked at Lily's robes, where the shiny badge was pinned.  
  
"Head Girl." She whispered, almost reverently. "Oh Lily, you're so lucky!" Her other friends reacted in much the same way. Once everyone had finished congratulating her, she asked casually,  
  
"So, do you know who the Head Boy is?" Everyone was quiet.  
  
Finally, Mia said, "It's James, Lily. James Potter." Lily went white. The people who she didn't know so well drifted away, leaving only her closest friends. Mia, Kate, Lisa, and Trinity were left.  
  
"Come on, it'll be okay. You've lived with him for six years, it's only one more," Lisa said comfortingly.  
  
"I know. But... James!"  
  
"Did somebody say my name?" Came a loud voice from behind the group. All turned, and James himself came into view. "Hiya, girls. Oh, Lily." He took in the shiny badge on her robe, exactly the same shape and size as his own.  
  
"Ah. Congratulations, Lily." He said after a while, once he had got his voice back. Lily replied, equally formally.  
  
"Thank you. Congratulations to you too."  
  
He gave a twisted smile, and walked off, back to his friends. As soon as he had gone, Lily swore. She rarely did that.  
  
"Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn! How the _hell_ can I work with him? I can barely speak to him without insulting him! How will I manage?" she wailed. The five of them walked to the train, consoling Lily as they went. They found an empty compartment, and got in. Lily's feelings were a huge mix.  
  
She was really happy that she was Head Girl. She was anxious that James was Head Boy, and she was excited about the upcoming school year, her last year at Hogwarts. Well, whatever happened would happen, and she was pretty powerless to stop it. I'll just have to learn to be near James without continually insulting him, she thought with a sigh.  
  
James and his friends were in the compartment behind the girls, although neither group knew it. James sat quietly as his friends joked, laughed and chatted, thinking much the same thoughts as Lily.  
  
Lily and James were both unusually quiet that year during the start of term feast and the sorting. They both cheered as new Gryffindors were sorted, but without as much enthusiasm as they usually put into that activity at the beginning of each year. As they were completely preoccupied, neither even noticed that Dumbledore was looking at both with a mixture of amusement and concern in his eyes. After the feast, both of the head students rose to lead the new Gryffindors to the common room, but Dumbledore stopped them.  
  
"Head students, if you would please come to my office I would be grateful. I daresay the prefects will be capable of leading the Gryffindors to the common room." Lily and James both nodded acquiescence, and they followed Dumbledore up to his office. They sat stiffly in the chairs that were offered as they followed Dumbledore inside.  
  
"I am aware that neither of you gets on particularly well with each other, but you have been made head boy and head girl. That means that you will be working, together, on important matters. Which means that you two will have to get along. I know you dislike each other, but this has to be this way. You two are the best students for the job. You have the academic achievements, you both have a sense of responsibility and a sense of honesty. You have to set an example, which means that cursing each other is not allowed. I can see that you won't get along, but if news of your... disagreements... is brought to my attention, and it is obvious who the culprit is, there will be trouble." Lily realised what Dumbledore was saying. He meant every word- he wanted James and Lily to behave. But he admitted that this would be unlikely, so he was settling for lack of open hostility. Basically, as long as no teacher noticed one cursing the other, then everything would be fine. Lily gave a small smile.  
  
"Well, you two are dismissed. Oh, before I forget, I want you to arrange something for me. There was last year, as you know, a Christmas ball for the students in fourth year and above. It was such a success that I think another one this year would go down well with the students. I would like you to organise this, please. Could you get most of the plans done by the end of November? Sort it out between you, and show me your ideas by then, please. Very well, off you go."  
  
Lily and James left the office together. They walked in silence to the Gryffindor common room, but outside the portrait hole both stopped. Dumbledore had not given them the password. Lily looked at James, and he looked at her. They could go all the way back... but Lily didn't know the password to get up to Dumbledore's office. Well, she would have to talk to James sometime.  
  
"Do you know the password" she asked him.  
  
"No." There was silence for a bit. Then James spoke again. "Should we go back to Dumbledore?"  
  
"Do you know the password to get up to his office?"  
  
"No." James admitted.  
  
"Well, then."  
  
"'Well then?' So what do you suggest we do, wait here all night?" James snapped.  
  
"Look, someone will come in sooner or later. All we have to do is wait."  
  
"Hmph." They both stood on opposite sides of the hall to each other, waiting for someone to come. Nobody came. It looked like they would be there a long time.  
  
After about half an hour, Lily had had enough. Still, James hadn't spoken, and she was determined not to do so before he did. At last, Lily started to speak James's name, at the same time he said hers. They both stopped.  
  
"What?" she asked.  
  
"You first."  
  
"You."  
  
"You."  
  
Lily gave him a withering look, and said, "I was just about to suggest that we look for a teacher, and then ask them for the password. Got a better idea, Potter?"  
  
"Ooh, Potter now, is it?" Lily just glared at him. "Actually, that was what I was about to suggest," James continued. "Evans." Lily rolled her eyes, and went off in the direction of the Great Hall. But James stopped her.  
  
"There won't be any in the Great Hall at this time, idiot. We'll go to McGonagall's office. She'll be bound to be up, trying to get together as much homework as possible for us tomorrow."  
  
Lily smiled slightly, but stopped immediately when she realised this was James who was talking. His ego didn't need to get any bigger. James didn't seem to notice that she'd smiled; he was already walking of in the direction of McGonagall's office. They arrived at her office, and knocked on the door. McGonagall's voice called out for them to come in, and she continued on to whoever was in there.  
  
"-really need to do something about those two. They have absolutely no-" she stopped as she saw James walk in, followed by Lily. Dumbledore was in the office with McGonagall, and he was smiling slightly.  
  
"Did you want something?" Professor McGonagall asked James, as he'd walked in first. This annoyed Lily, for some reason.  
  
"Yes. We don't know the Gryffindor password. We've been waiting outside for about an hour, but no-one's come or gone." The Professor looked startled.  
  
"You managed to survive in each other's company for an hour without cursing each other blind?" she said with poorly hidden amazement.  
  
"I just ignored him." Lily answered before James could make up any lies about her. She was too tired to argue then and there.  
  
McGonagall's eyebrows raised. She had a sceptical look on her face when she answered, "The password is 'Snakes suck,' I believe." Lily and James both fought down smiles, and upon seeing their lips twitch, McGonagall added, "I don't know who made it up." Lily nodded gravely.  
  
"Thank you Professor."  
  
"Goodnight Miss Evans, Mr. Potter."  
  
Both said goodnight to the two teachers there, and then left to the common room, and to their dorms. They didn't speak to each other on the way back. Lily rolled into her bed, and fell asleep almost immediately.  
  
She woke up the next day and went down to breakfast deep in thought. Despite what Dumbledore had said yesterday, she knew James wouldn't hesitate to pull some kind of prank on her. Which meant that she had to beat him to it. Lily never let James Potter best her if she could help it. Besides, she liked pulling pranks on him. The only problem was, she had to make sure that none of the teachers would know for sure who played the prank. Lily knew that was simply a matter of not being seen, and denying that she had anything to do with it. James would know it was her. It usually was.  
  
So, as James turned up to breakfast (with his hair even messier than usual), Lily was prepared. As James drank his pumpkin juice, a long, green moustache sprouted from his upper lip. He didn't notice until it starting curling up at the sides. James touched it with disbelief, and then his eyes suddenly narrowed, and he glared at Lily. Lily just smiled sweetly up at him and continued on with her breakfast. The worst was yet to come. As he was glaring at Lily, his chin started growing hair, too. Pretty soon, he had a pink beard, and it kept growing until it was the length of Dumbledore's. Nobody had seemed to notice yet, but as Sirius turned to look at him, he let out a great shout of laughter, and pretty soon the whole school was howling with laughter.  
  
When Sirius started laughing, James glanced up at him, and in the few seconds that his eyes were diverted, Lily muttered something under her breath. The moustache and the beard started glowing, and the pink and green turned fluorescent. Lily laughed along with the rest of the school, but she leaned over (he was sitting opposite her) and told him in quite a calm voice that he'd better shave.  
  
"Just you wait, Lily. I know it was you. Maybe I can't prove it short of stealing your wand, but I can get revenge. That you won't be able to prove, either."  
  
Lily grinned at him as he stalked out, and then used her wand to sweep up her long hair into a neat plait. Now, no one would be able to find out that she had put the charm on James. She had to thank him though, because she wouldn't have remembered the prior incantatem spell, and she wouldn't put it past James to 'borrow' her wand to prove that she did it.  
  
Lily and her friends left the hall, to go to their dorms and collect their books for Transfiguration.  
  
"God, Lily, that was great!" Mia said enthusiastically.  
  
"What makes you think I did it?" Lily asked blandly.  
  
Trinity snorted. "Who else would've done it? 'Sides, we all know you have to pull a prank on him first, before he gets a chance to!"  
  
"Dumbledore told me that he didn't want to catch us charming or cursing each other this year, because we're head students."  
  
"Ah. That explains it." Trinity said. "Getting caught is too much of a risk, isn't it?"  
  
Her friends all laughed.  
  
"So, Lily," Kate asked teasingly, "gonna let James beat you in Transfiguration this year?" Lily glowered.  
  
"It's not my fault he's so good at it! I mean, he sucks at everything else; he has to be good at something!"  
  
"Lily. Just because you can either beat him or match him in everything else doesn't mean he sucks." Lisa said. "Pity his attitude doesn't match his school work." Lily tried to frown, but ended up grinning anyway.  
  
"His ego's swollen. It's what he gets from having so many girls fawning over him."  
  
By then they had reached the dormitory, and were searching through their trunks for their books. At that point, Lisa looked up. "You know something? Despite all the fan clubs and giggling girls and stuff, you know, he doesn't really go out with so many? There are barely any heart-broken girls crying because he dumped them."  
  
"Not compared to the number crying over Sirius, anyway," added Kate, looking thoughtful. "And, although I hate to say it, James is actually more good-looking."  
  
"Speaking of Sirius, I'm going to make him feel some of what those girls've been feeling. I'm going to make him fall for me, and refuse to go out with him. After he's begged me for about two weeks, I will go out with him, and then I'll dump him within a week." Trinity informed them. Lily smiled.  
  
"Good luck! Go for it!" Trinity grinned, and they all departed to Transfiguration.  
  
Trinity was true to her word. Everywhere she went, she made sure that she looked good, and she did a good job of it, too, Lily privately thought. Within two weeks of the start of school, Trinity had had seven boys ask her out, although not including Sirius. Needless to say, she refused them all. She wouldn't accept until she knew she had Sirius's attention.  
  
About a month after school started, Lily and her friends were working in the common room. Lily had a history of magic essay due in the next day, and it was so dull. And then ink started streaming out of her quill. She quickly put it into a tissue, and used an un-blotting spell on her parchment. Thank God it hadn't been ruined! Lily knew why the quill had suddenly started pouring out ink. There was only one reason. James Potter.  
  
She threw the inky tissue at James, and it hit him squarely in the nose. Then she refilled her quill and continued on writing, grinning to herself. She used permanent ink in her pen, and James would have a blue mark on his nose for a long time. The blotting spell only worked on parchment, and water and soap would never work on wizarding ink. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled, and she whirled around, looking to see who was there. It was James. He was glaring at her.  
  
"Well, that should teach you to ruin my homework," Lily said calmly, and she turned back to her work.  
  
"What was that for?" He asked her, glaring with thunder in his eyes. Lily rolled her own eyes, and sigh exasperatedly.  
  
"'What was that for?'" she mimicked. "Hmm. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I've been writing this essay for two hours, starting at eight, and it is now nearly TEN O'CLOCK. I AM TIRED!!! AND IF YOU HAD MADE ME RE-WRITE THAT WHOLE BLOODY ESSAY, THEN YOU WOULD GET A LOT MORE THAN A BLUE NOSE!" Seeing as the entire common room was staring at her, she lowered her voice and continued on ranting at him. "You're supposed to be Head Boy. And, with all the trouble you get into, you should know how Binns is when homework isn't finished on time."  
  
James's mouth twitched. Boy, did he know. But there was no excuse for her to jump to conclusions like that. "For your information," he said coolly, "it wasn't me who inked your paper, but Peter. He's been trying to get that charm to work for ages, and he finally sorted it. If it was me, I would have done something like this..."  
  
James waved his wand, and the parchment turned into a tiny owl, and flew onto James's head. Before Lily could explode again, he changed it back, and handed it to her.  
  
"As you have been doing that for a long time, I will settle for doing this..." James waved his wand again, and Lily's quill turned yellow. He walked quickly away before she could figure out what else he had done to her quill. She glared daggers at him, and then uttered a spell that stuck Peter to the seat he was sitting on. Then she turned back to her essay.  
  
As soon as she had touched the quill, a squeaky voice started singing "The song that never ends." And it didn't stop singing. It was very off-key. In fact, it sounded like someone completely tone-deaf was trying to sing it through a nosebleed. Lily threw the quill down, and the song stopped immediately. Cautiously, she picked it back up. It resumed singing. Quite a few people turned to glare at her. But she had only one thought on her mind. Her eyes glinting with fury, Lily stormed up the stairs after James. He would pay. 


	2. Chapter Two

** A/N I hope you like this part. Still relatively cliched, in the manner of all L/J love/hates... but where would society be if all cliches were eradicated? grin Enjoy.   
  
Disclaimer: Most of it's not mine, and if it's yours I apologise for stealing it... unless you're J K Rowling, the theft was completely unintentional. If you are her... um, I apologise?**

_Chapter Two_

When Lily got to the turning between the boys' and the girls' dorms, having decided to track James down and physically harm him, she changed her mind. She had a better idea. Lily went up the girls' stairs, and got a spare quill from her trunk. Then she went back to writing her essay. It took her another hour to finish, and by that time the common room was empty. It was time for her revenge.   
  
Lily moved all of her paper and books onto a nearby chair, and then cautiously moved the quill into the newly emptied table in front of her. It began singing, but she dropped it immediately. James wasn't very good at charms so, hopefully, a new spell that Lily had created ought to work. It would undo the last spell that had been done on an object, and show Lily the nature of the spell, so that she could replicate it if she so chose.   
  
Her plan was to learn how the spell was done, and then perform it onto every single one of James's and his friends' quills. Which is why, when the spell was removed from her quill, she was very surprised. Instead of turning the quill back from yellow to its normal colour, as she had assumed, Severus Snape sat there on the desk. Lily looked at him with horror. She had automatically assumed that James had placed a charm on her quill, she hadn't thought that James would, well, transfigure Snape.   
  
Snape glared at her frostily. At last, Lily said, "What did he do to you?"   
  
"You mean Pot-head?"   
  
Did he _want_ her to turn him back? James might be one of the most irritating boys she knew, but he was a Gryffindor and 'Pot-head' was one of her own insults. Not Snape's.   
  
"Yes, him," she replied, trying not to grit her teeth.   
  
"Performed a few charms on me, and then transfigured me into the quill. What does it look like?"   
  
"Why?"   
  
"Why does the dung-brain do anything?"   
  
Lily clenched her hands into fists. That was really pot calling kettle… at least James wasn't stupid enough to get himself turned into a quill!   
  
"Do you know what charms he performed?"   
  
"Well, duh!"   
  
Lily was getting really annoyed. No wonder James played so many pranks on him. He really was a greasy, ungrateful slimeball.   
  
"So what charms were they?"   
  
Snape rolled his eyes but replied, "The first one froze me to the spot, so I can't move. And the second one… well, touch me."   
  
Lily cautiously prodded his arm. He started singing the 'Song That Never Ends.' She withdrew her finger hurriedly, and instinctively wiped it on her robes. Talking more to herself than to Snape, she said,   
  
"So he performed a freeze charm... it obviously isn't the full body bind. Must be the 'petrificus umerus crurisque' charm... which makes sense, since it's probably one of the easiest he could find. And then he performed a singing charm - must be one he invented himself. No, Remus probably invented it and then taught it to James. So there are more than one of the Marauders involved in this. Then he transfigured you, put you in his pocket, and waited for an opportunity to switch you with my own quill. Not so simple, but when you reverted after the customary ten hours, I'd get in trouble for it. And I'd be embarrassed, because you would suddenly appear in my room, hopefully for him while I'm changing."   
  
"Clever, aren't you?" Snape remarked snidely.   
  
Lily raised an eyebrow at him. "But of course you're much cleverer than me. I'm sure you're able to take off all of the charms by yourself, without my help. Shall I turn you back and you can demonstrate your prowess to me?" Snape glowered at her, but didn't say anything. Lily smirked. "Well, then. Shut up."   
  
She raised her wand, and took off the spell that froze Snape's arms and legs. Lily didn't remove the singing charm. She had a better idea. "Okay, you're done. Go." Snape looked at her icily and stalked over to the portrait hole without thanking her or looking back.   
  
Before he could open it, Lily called out, in a voice much deeper than her usual one, "Petrificus Totalus!"   
  
She couldn't, after all, have him incriminating her when he was found in the Seventh year Gryffindor boys' dorm leaning against James's bedpost. Lily would, however attach a note to him. She leant him against the wall of the common room, and tied his hair up in a ribbon. A pink ribbon. Lily smiled to herself. Her pranks were always so much better than James's. Then she wrote, on the back of his neck,   
  
_ Potter,   
  
A little gift from me, in payback for your trick. Nicely done, but a little bit easy to see through and counter. Keep on trying though, I'm sure you'll come up with something to mildly confuse me sometime.   
  
CH   
  
_ Lily grinned as she levitated Snape upstairs. CH stood for carrot-head; James would know what it meant. And he wouldn't be able to prove that she had done it. Feeling content after a good prank well reversed, and all homework done on time, she fell asleep.   
  
The entire of Gryffindor woke the next morning to gales of laughter, and one person swearing loudly. Lily, having forgotten the events of the night before momentarily, woke with a start, threw on her dressing gown, and ran in the direction of the noise. It was James's dorm. She slammed the door open.   
  
"What is going on in here?" she thundered. Then she remembered what she had done with Snape. Without changing her facial expression at all, she asked, "What have you done to Sn- Severus?"   
  
James glowered at her, and the other boys in the door continued to laugh hysterically. Sirius managed to gasp out, "Good one, Lily!"   
  
"Evans!" James said. "You undid it, didn't you?"   
  
"Undid what, Potter?"   
  
"What I did to Snape!"   
  
"Oh, you did something to Snape, did you, Potter? And you admitted it in front of the Head Girl? Detention!"   
  
"Oh, very funny, Evans. Get over your power trip... you _know_ you can't give the Head Boy a detention. Only a teacher can do that... as you found out the hard way," he reminded her, smirking.   
  
"Whatever, Potter," Lily replied offhandedly, trying not to remember the incident. Bloody James Potter always had to embarrass her. It didn't occur to her that he had been retaliating after the facial hair prank. "Do something about him," she instructed. "And please don't wake the entire of Gryffindor tower at," she looked at her watch, "5:30 in the morning again."   
  
And Lily swept out, allowing her face to grin as she looked away from them. She guessed that James prodded Snape, because she suddenly heard, "This is the song that…" before it cut off. She laughed softly. James would have a headache by the time he got Snape out of Gryffindor tower. After all, he wasn't good enough at charms to be able to take off the charm he had put on Snape in the first place. And by the looks she had seen on the other boys' faces, they weren't going to help either.   
  
Lily, knowing that she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep again, decided to have a shower. She had to be prepared for whatever James would come up with next. And it would be sure to be aimed at her, after this morning's humiliation. Lily grinned, and went off to take her shower.


	3. Chapter Three

**A/N The rather sudden change is in there for a reason… so if you're reading this and thinking that's it's too sudden… well, think about it. I won't say more here, for fear of ruining the "surprise." Hope you like it, and R/R!  
  
Disclaimer: Most of it's not mine, and if it's yours I apologise for stealing it... unless you're J K Rowling, the theft was completely unintentional. If you are her... um, I'm sorry?**

_Chapter Three_

The next day passed, with no prank on Lily. She was getting slightly worried… what was delaying James from his revenge? Another three days passed, and still nothing happened. But Lily's mind was distracted. Trinity finally had success with Sirius! He had asked Trinity to Hogsmeade for the next weekend, but Trinity had coolly refused. Then, as soon as Sirius went out of earshot, with a carefully neutral expression on his face:  
  
"_I did it!_" whisper-screamed Trinity triumphantly.  
  
"Congratulations," Mia told her, rolling her eyes.  
  
"He's been eyeing you for a while," Kate added, grinning broadly.  
  
"I know," Trinity replied smugly. "So, what do you suggest?"  
  
"Accept him next time, make him really like you, and then dump him in the middle of the common room. Should be interesting," Kate said, rather coldly. She liked Sirius less than the others put together, although she refused to say why.  
  
"There is a problem, Trin,'" Lily said softly.  
  
"What, that his friends'll get mad?"  
  
"No- Potter couldn't do anything to you," she said scornfully. "I was thinking of his fan club of girls. They'll kill you!"  
  
"Well, you'll help me, won't you?" Trinity asked, looking around the circle of friends. She grinned, "Getting attacked my a crowd of fourth years would be scary."  
  
"Yeah, we'll stick up for you," Lisa said, reassuringly but seriously. "I'm not joking… against one or two, you'd be fine. But Trin… there are at least twenty of them! They seriously _could_ attack you for 'hurting Sirius.'"  
  
"You know, it might not necessarily be a problem," Kate said thoughtfully. "The fan-club's mostly Hufflepuffs, and the dumber Gryffindors. Not to be prejudiced, but won't they be a bit… well, they won't know nearly as many inventful curses as our dear Head Girl here. And most of them _are_ a lot younger."  
  
At that, Lily grinned. "I didn't have much choice about learning that kind of thing!" she protested. "I need it for self-defence and revenge!"  
  
"Well, however Lily tries to squirm out of it, we can certainly defend ourselves. I suggest you go along with the plan, Trin," Kate said emphatically.  
  
"I will. But now it's dinner time."  
  
The girls got up and left for dinner, waiting expectantly for Sirius to try again. They weren't disappointed.  
  
"Hey Trinity?" Sirius didn't look the least nervous, despite asking for the second time.  
  
"Yeah, Sirius?"  
  
"Do you want to go out for a walk with me?" he asked with hopeful eyes.  
  
Trinity knew that she shouldn't accept too readily. She wanted him to think that she was playing hard-to-get, but at the same time she didn't want to scare him off. "Hmm, where to?" she asked. Lily held back her laughter.  
  
"You'll see. If you come."  
  
"Well, I suppose so. See you guys later!" Sirius took Trinity's arm, and she didn't shake him off.  
  
James sat down in Trinity's vacated seat (diagonal from Lily), and Remus and Peter settled in seats around them. Lily glared at James, but he ignored her.  
  
"He's fallen," James announced to no one in particular.  
  
"Sirius?" Lisa asked. Unlike Lily, she could tolerate James. "Why?"  
  
"He's going for Trinity." James informed her.  
  
"And what's wrong with that?" Mia asked defensively.  
  
"She's the only girl I know who would go for Sirius solely for the joy of dumping him. Apart from maybe Evans." James smiled fakely at Lily, and she glared at him.  
  
"I wouldn't go out with _any_ of your friends, Potter, if they were the last males on earth!"  
  
"No?" he asked mockingly. Mia, Kate, Lisa, Remus, and Peter all surreptitiously edged away, sensing the huge fight that was about to come.  
  
"No way! Your heads are so full of self-importance that I'm surprised there's any room for thinking left after all of your egos!"  
  
"Evans? As much as you'd like to sound knowledgeable, that didn't make any sense whatsoever. There's no point trying to sound scathing if you end up sounding stupid. Not that you're sounding any different from normal," James said coolly.  
  
He was angry now, and so was Lily. That was a fundamental difference between them. When Lily was anything above annoyed, she shouted. When James was annoyed, or mildly angry, he spoke calmly. When he got really angry he started shouting. And when he was furious (and that had only happened once, to Lily's knowledge), his voice was so deadly calm that it scared the hell out of Lily. Now, he was only slightly angry. But that last time…  
  
_It had been Malfoy that started it all off. Lily's parents had died just two days before, in a Muggle car accident. Lily had been absolutely devastated. Other people got hurt or died, but never before had it happened to someone close to Lily. She had been sitting in the Great Hall, prodding at a plate of scrambled eggs. She wasn't hungry. Her friends had long gone, leaving her in peace with her thoughts, but the Marauders were seated at the table a little way away. Malfoy had approached. He had started on Lily, as was his way.  
  
"Oh, look at that! The mudblood isn't eating. It's not because of your parents, is it? I don't see what the problem is. They'd probably have been glad to be rid of you, if you ask me. Tell me, are the rumours true? Was it really suicide?" his voice had been taunting, his eyes full of malice.  
  
Lily's ears had been ringing. He had no right to say such things about her parents! She had stood up, but whether to punch him or to cry she didn't know. But James had already been there. He had placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, and she had sunk back down in her seat. She had been shaking. To Lucius Malfoy, he had said,  
  
"Malfoy, get out. Get away from Lily, before we do something you will regret." His voice was colder than ice, his fury contained in his words. Malfoy was obviously frightened. He had taken one look at James and fled. James had turned to Lily, his face now a blank mask.  
  
"Sorry about that, Lily. I know how it feels. It's about time he got a warning." Then James had gently squeezed her shoulder before removing his hand and leaving. It had been one of the few times he had called her 'Lily.'_  
  
Lily came back to the present. This was no time to start getting sentimental. Not when James was pissed with her. She shouted at him, and he shouted back (his calm, 'you are annoying me' voice was long gone.). They both earned a detention.  
  
McGonagall didn't even bother to tell them off, she was so used to their fights. All she said was, "Potter, Evans, detention," and then walked away. James and Lily glared at each other, turned, and stalked off - both in the same direction. Two minutes later, Lily turned on the marching James.  
  
"_Why are you following me?_" she shouted. So did he.  
  
"What is it with you?" she asked exasperatedly. Unfortunately, he did so too, at the same time. Lily shut her mouth, and glared at him again. He glared back.  
  
Lily let out a loud, theatrical sigh, and continued to walk to the common room. James kept pace with her. When she climbed through the portrait hole and he was still here, she asked, "Why do you do this? One minute you're so nice, and the next, so annoying!"  
  
"Nice? You think I'm capable of being nice? What happened to the Evans I know?"  
  
"Oh, shut up for once! I know you can be nice sometimes. Sometimes! But…" Lily stopped. She probably ought to be apologising, and thanking him. It was over a year ago that he had stood up to Malfoy for her, and she had never really thanked him for doing that.  
  
"But what?" James looked surprised and confused. Lily, to her utmost horror, blushed.  
  
"I never really said thank you for when you got rid of Malfoy for me. When my parents… died. He hasn't bothered me since. And, well, your ego isn't as big as, well, Sirius's, for example."  
  
James, for the first time ever when confronted with Lily, was speechless. "Uh…"  
  
Lily smiled. "Don't tell me you're lost for words."  
  
"No! I just… uh… You're talking to me without shouting. I didn't know it was possible."  
  
"Good save of face, there," Lily remarked, hurt that he had thrown her apology and her thanks back in her face. Apparently, he was back to being his usual self.  
  
"No! I honestly meant it. Maybe we should start over."  
  
Bemusedly, Lily replied, "Um, I guess we could."  
  
James grinned, his trademark grin. Lily noted absentmindedly that her knees didn't feel one bit like jelly. "Okay!" he told her, "I won't call you 'Carrots,' and you don't charm dung bombs to follow me around."  
  
"Deal," Lily replied. "But now I'm going to bed."  
  
"Okay, see you in the morning… Lily." It surprised him how 'Evans' kept wanting to pop into his mouth. Old habits died hard, it would seem.  
  
"Yeah, 'night… James." Lily left, marvelling at what had just taken place. Six years of enmity, over like the snap of her fingers! She couldn't believe it! And she doubted that James could, either.  
  
The next morning, Lily woke up to the tapping of a beak on the window. It was Mia's owl, so Lily blearily got up and let it in. Deciding that she couldn't go back to sleep, she got up and went to the Head Girl's bathroom for a luxurious bath. It was a Saturday.  
  
When Lily got back from the bathroom her friends were all down at breakfast. Lily went down to join them. She sat without complaint in the only seat left - next to James.  
  
"Morning!" she said brightly, and everyone except James turned to stare at her with shock. "What?" she asked defensively.  
  
"Y..you..sa…you sa..you…" Trinity stammered, sitting next to a gaping Sirius.  
  
"Oh, we didn't tell them," James said casually to Lily. If it had been possible for their friends' mouths to drop any more, it would have happened.  
  
"Oh, right. Yeah. We've decided to start over." Lily said in explanation. There was still silence.  
  
After a while, James said conversationally, "I think we gave them a bit of a shock."  
  
"Yes, I think so too. Oh look, it's the post!" It was true; hundreds of owls came streaming in. One owl deposited a letter to both Lily and James. Lily ripped hers open, and read,  
  
_Miss L. Evans,  
  
Your detention is to take place this evening. You will meet outside Mr. Filch's office at nine o'clock tonight. Please do not be late. Sincerely,  
  
Prof. M McGonagall  
  
_Lily glared at the letter, and then looked over at James's, which was basically the same.  
  
"Oh, yippee," she said, "Just what I want, a detention tonight!"  
  
"Yeah, fun." James's tone was just as sincere as Lily's. Their friends were all still speechless. James sighed exaggeratedly. "C'mon, let's leave them to wind up their jaws and put their eyes back in." James took Lily's hand, pulled her up, and then the two walked outside in the direction of the lake. They left their friends to continue gaping after them.  
  
"This is ridiculous!" James said once they were out of the castle. "I mean, why can't they just accept that we're friends now?"  
  
"We aren't yet friends, exactly. We've just put all of the arguments behind us," Lily reminded him. "It's still a bit of a shock for me, really. But… you know, you really aren't that bad."  
  
"Why, thank you," he told her sarcastically. "Seriously, though, we will be friends," he said, with confidence. "Sirius used to keep telling me that we're perfect for each other. Of course, because it's Sirius, it's a huge exaggeration, but I'm sure we'll get on."  
  
"Sirius can't judge perfectness, if that's a word. I mean, he's been dating more girls than I can count. He's even with Trinity now!"  
  
"Uh…" James looked a little nervous. "Um… actually, I think the only reason he's going out with Trinity is to get revenge."  
  
Lily looked at James for a minute, and then burst out laughing. James just looked at her strangely. Then comprehension dawned on his face, and he began to smile. Then he too started laughing.  
  
"Please," said Lily after she'd had a chance to calm down, "don't tell Trinity I told you."  
  
"You didn't tell me anything."  
  
"But you know."  
  
"That's true. It should be interesting, really- both pretending to like each other."  
  
"It'll only be a pretence for a short time," Lily told him, "Then they'll dump each other."  
  
"And if they do start to like each other, they'll both pretend that they don't, while pretending they do! Their prides won't let them get together seriously."  
  
They both continued to walk together, but in silence as they thought over the situation. At last, Lily said,  
  
"Look, I'd better get back. My friends," she smiled, "my _other_ friends will be wondering where I am."  
  
"I'll go back with you," he told her. "If you go back alone they'll think you've killed me." They walked back to Gryffindor tower pretty quickly, grinning at the looks of astonishment directed at them. They passed Professor McGonagall, who nearly fainted when she saw the two former enemies walking side by side without shouting at one another. When they reached the portrait hole, Lily stopped.  
  
"So, _are _we friends now?"  
  
"Yep," he said, and grinned. Then he added, "Does this mean no more pranks?"  
  
"Just no more malicious pranks. And nothing embarrassing. Hey! We can work together against Snape and Malfoy!"  
  
"_That_," said James with relish, "would be _fun_. Between us, we could do practically anything!" They both grinned, twin evil grins of anticipation, and then went through the portrait hole.  
  
"See you later," Lily said, and went up to her dorm. James went up to his.  
  
As soon as Lily went in, everyone became silent. Then, speaking very slowly, Kate asked, "Where were you?"  
  
"With James," Lily said casually and flopped onto her bed. She was quite enjoying this. "So what are we doing today?"  
"Nothing until you tell us what's going on!" Mia said severely. "I thought you hated him! You yourself said that he had the biggest ego in the entire of Hogwarts, and the smallest brain!"  
  
"His ego isn't nearly as big as Sirius's, and he gets the highest marks in the year."  
  
"No, Lily, you both do. You get pretty much exactly the same marks in everything, except for Charms where you beat him, and Transfiguration where he beats you," Lisa told her. "And last time we had this conversation, you refused to admit that his marks were anywhere _close_ to yours!"  
  
"So I'm not in denial anymore! Now, will you please drop the subject? I didn't come up here to be interrogated!"  
  
"One last question. When did you two make up?"  
  
"Last night. Happy now? Can we go and do something?"  
  
They looked at her warily. "If you're sure you're okay…" Mia said worriedly. Lily just laughed.


	4. Chapter Four

**A/N This is going to be just as long as my first chapter, I expect, so I'm sorry to you people who don't like reading long chapters. Split it up into smaller parts if it makes you happy. I also apologise profusely for my attempt at Hagrid's accent. If it's too painful, tell me in a review and I'll change it to normal English… nobody complained when I put the chapter up the first time, though, so his accent remains. And thanks rollingstones... I'll probably keep updating almost daily. I hope you continue to like it!  
  
Disclaimer: Most of it's not mine, and if it's yours I apologise for stealing it... unless you're J K Rowling, the theft was completely unintentional. If you are her... um, I apologise? The Mooncalves are Rowling's too.**

_Chapter Four_

Lily met James standing outside Filch's office at ten to nine. They didn't want to earn another detention for being late, and Filch had been known to set his watch earlier for just that opportunity.  
  
"So, did your friends interrogate you?" Lily asked.  
  
"Ask a silly question! Did they ever stop?" James said exasperatedly.  
  
"They're going to read so much into this. And not just our friends. Gossip will have us in bed with each other within a week!"  
  
"Well, that just shows how ridiculous gossip is," James pointed out.  
  
"I know, but it's still believed."  
  
"Who cares? We'll know what's true. Hey, Filch is coming."  
  
"Cross your fingers that we're not cleaning out the dungeons like last time," Lily said fervently. James didn't reply, because Filch was arriving. He seemed to be in a worse mood that usual.  
  
"Not at all what a detention should be like… almost considered fun… harrumph… professors… no sense of discipline…" he mumbled as he approached. When he got near, he glowered even more. "Come on you two! I don't have all night!"  
  
Lily and James obediently followed him, wondering what was in store. They were led to a beaming Hagrid, where Filch left them, still grumbling to himself.  
  
"Ah, good! Come on in, sit down!"  
  
"Right, I've got a special job fer ye tonight." He said once they were settled. "The teachers've bin waitin' fer ye t'argue, so's ye can 'elp me with this."  
  
"I suppose ye know tonight's a full moon," he continued. "Yes, well, that's th' reason ye've got detention tonight, instead o' last night. I've got a special job fer the two of ye."  
  
Lily was feeling the beginnings of nerves. What was this all about?  
  
"You both take Care of Magical Creatures, right? Well, there's a creature called a mooncalf. Very shy, an' it won' come out 'cept on full moons. We need to collect its dung. So, I'll answer any questions ye have now. We've got until dawn to get it back here, and I need ye two 'cos ye're the best in the school. All the teachers are busy, what with Remus and all…" A look of horror passed over his face. "But tha's not important!" he said hurriedly. Lily smiled, and James put on a mildly confused look. Lily knew that he knew, and that he knew she knew he knew. Lily decided to take everyone's minds off of Remus.  
  
"What's a mooncalf, Hagrid, and why do we need its dung?" she asked curiously. She did want to know.  
  
"Right," Hagrid said, still looking a little embarrassed. "A mooncalf's a creature fer yer Care of Magical Creatures classes. It's very shy, and comes out only at the full moon. It's got grey skin, huge feet, and big eyes. You can't miss it. It dances in the moonlight- it'll be easy to spot. An' it's dung'll be a blessin' fer th' greenhouses. But it's gotta be collected afore dawn, an' we don' want t' scare or harm the creatures."  
  
"I think I understand," James said.  
  
"I do," Lily told Hagrid.  
  
"Great! Then let's be off. Oh, but first ye'll have to disguise yer smell, and mine too. Mooncalves are very sensitive to scent- if it smells us, it'll run."  
  
Lily performed the smell hiding charm, and the trio set off into the Forbidden Forest. They took over an hour to reach their destination - a wooden cabin on the edge of the clearing. They went in to wait for the mooncalf to appear. Hagrid told them that it wouldn't come for another half an hour, so Lily explored the cabin.  
  
It was quite small. James and Hagrid sat in the only chairs, around a small table. There was a bookshelf in a corner half-full of boring muggle classics. At least, they looked boring. There was also a cupboard in the corner, and a stove and a fireplace. Lily opened the cupboard to find it empty.  
  
"Oh, tha's magical," Hagrid told her. "Ye'll find anything ye want in it, within reason, o' course. No diamonds or gold, or anythin'."  
  
Lily was awed. It must have cost a fortune! She concentrated on wood for a fire, and opened the cupboard again. Sure enough, it was full of dry logs and kindling.  
  
"Hagrid, can I make a fire?" she asked.  
  
"Yeah, won' hurt," Hagrid replied.  
  
"Thanks, Lily," James said. Lily smiled at him and took the wood to the fireplace. She had a good fire going in a matter of seconds. Magic was much easier than using the muggle way to do things. Lily then went to see where the only door led. It went to a small bedroom with one four-poster bed and a wardrobe. She opened it to find a selection of clothes and robes, all her size. Lily supposed it was more magic.  
  
"Hey Lily, I think it's coming out!"  
  
Lily raced back, and sure enough it was. The mooncalf was the strangest creature she had ever seen. It had a smooth, round body, glinting in the moonlight. It had four very thin fragile-looking legs, and four feet as big as Hagrid's. Its neck was also thin and spindly, but its head did look like that of a cow, apart from its eyes. They were big and bulging, and on top of its head. It ought to be ugly, Lily realised objectively, but there was something compelling about it.  
  
Lily watched with baited breath as it came slowly out from its burrow. Another one emerged from the other side of the clearing, and suddenly both were moving fast. In just a few seconds, the two were up against each other, forepaws (forehoofs? Forefeet? Lily wasn't sure) up on the other's shoulders. They pressed together, merging as one for maybe five seconds, and then sprang apart. Alternately on their back legs and on all fours, the two animals danced in intricate patterns all around the clearing, meeting in the centre every few minutes. Even from the cabin, it was obvious that one was male, and one female.  
  
The dance went on and on, each part seemingly new, and each part fascinatingly intricate and elaborate. All too soon, Lily felt Hagrid shake her shoulder. She turned, dazed, and saw Hagrid shaking James out of a similar reverie.  
  
"Ye've bin watchin' fer hours, and they'll stop soon. We've gotta get the sacks fer the dung and talk over what's gonna happen. Ye'll be puttin' on gloves, and put as much dung in yer sack as is possible in half an hour. Then ye can give me yer sacks, and come back here. This dung'll have to be spread on the plants before sunrise, an' ye two'll slow me down a lot. I'll take the sacks back to Hogwarts an' spread it on the plants. I can't walk back in time if I've ye two to look after. I'll need to sleep for a bit, an' eat an' such, and then I'll be back fer ye at about three o'clock t'morrer. That's why 't was ye were chosen- the teachers reckon they can trust you. Anyway, will ye be okay with that? I don' want ye followin' me, or comin' back 'til I come t' fetch ye. S'that alright?"  
  
Lily and James just nodded. It was a lot to take in. Three o'clock in the afternoon was a long time away- now it was only half past two on the morning.  
  
Hagrid led them back to the window. The mooncalves were at the end of their dance. They slowed down, continued to move gracefully, and slowly made their way into their separate burrows. Hagrid handed both Lily and James gloves and sacks. They hurriedly put them on, and then went out to pick up the dung.  
  
It all went as planned. Hagrid left with the full sacks at about three, and Lily and James returned to the cabin. Strangely enough, both were wide-awake. They sat on the chairs, facing each other.  
  
"I'm not at all tired," Lily said.  
  
"No, me either. I wonder why."  
  
"It's the dung. It smelt ever so sweet and fresh. Highly magical, obviously."  
  
"Yes. Sweet dung… that's an oxymoron if there ever was one. But there's no point even trying to sleep now. I'll be awake for hours."  
  
"Yeah, me too," he said, and then laughed. "Who would have thought a week ago that we'd be sitting here, friends, after having collected insomnia-inducing dung from mating mooncalves?"  
  
Lily laughed too. "Strange, isn't it? D'you want to talk a while, then, since there's no point in trying to sleep?"  
  
"Sure. But these chairs are very uncomfortable."  
  
"Let's get some cushions, then, and move to the floor," she suggested. She went to the cupboard and brought out two huge pillows, and two blankets.  
  
"Come on!" she told him, chucking a pillow and a blanket at James. She sat on the cushion and drew the blanket over herself. Much better!  
  
"Wasn't that the strangest detention you've ever done?" she asked.  
  
"Definitely." James wrapped his blanket around himself. "I never even knew there was an animal called a mooncalf, let alone saw its mating ritual or collected its dung."  
  
"It was pretty cool," she agreed. They were both quiet for a while, remembering the dance. Then, impulsively, Lily said, "I'm glad we made up when we did. Wouldn't this be awful; being together and hating each other?"  
  
"I'm glad, too. What our friends will say, I don't know."  
  
"I don't think we could shock them any more. We could announce our engagement and they probably wouldn't even blink."  
  
"Yeah. What do you think will happen with Trinity and Sirius?"  
  
"Oh, Trin'll never end up embarrassing him. She'll come to like him, and they'll break it off quietly and stay friends," she said with conviction.  
  
"Do you think so? I think Sirius really does like her, but he's pretending he doesn't. I noticed yesterday. He seemed to be more… oh, I don't know! But I think he likes her."  
  
"I guess we'll have to wait and see. I've noticed you don't date nearly as many girls as Sirius, but you're just as popular. Why's that?" Lily saw James blush slightly by the light of the rapidly dying fire, but he answered her anyway.  
  
"I don't think it's fair to fool around with them. Besides, I feel hunted! They never leave me alone!"  
  
Lily laughed. "Betraying my fellow females or not, I agree… I think they're in for it for your Quidditch reputation, your money, and your looks more than for your personality, unfortunate as it is. Most of your worshippers are predatory."  
  
James blushed. "I don't have worshippers! You don't accept many dates either, and you certainly have opportunity to do so," he said, changing the subject. Now it was Lily's turn to blush, but the fire was so far gone by now that it wasn't visible in the darkness. She hoped.  
  
"I… don't think dates should be spur of the moment. If I have a relationship with anyone, he has to be someone I like and respect. Besides, I don't have a fan club like you."  
  
"You know something?" James asked, as he shifted onto his back and looked up into the roof, ignoring her last comment, "I've hated you for six years, and liked you for nearly two days, but I still don't know you at all. You're muggle-born, Head Girl, friends with Sirius's girl of the week, and good at charms. That's all I know!"  
  
"And I know the same about you, except for your parentage. I wonder… have you ever heard of the muggle game 'Truth or Dare?'"  
  
"Nope."  
  
"Well, you have to choose one or the other, and either answer a question or do a dare. And if you refuse, you have to do a forfeit that's chosen before the game begins."1  
  
"Okay," he replied cautiously.  
  
"We can just play 'Truth,' and leave out the dare part. It's not so fun without a group of people."  
  
"Okay." He still sounded unsure.  
  
"Do you understand?"  
  
"Kinda. I'll pick it up as I go along."  
  
"Okay then. Something we'll have to do if we refuse to answer a question." Neither of them could come up with anything. Lily shrugged, "Oh well, I guess we'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it."  
  
"Huh?" James plainly wasn't familiar with the saying. It was obviously a muggle thing.  
  
"Never mind. I'll start… are your parents wizarding?"  
  
"Yes, Mum was a witch, and Dad a wizard."  
  
"Okay. Your turn." Lily decided not to comment on the past tense. When had his parents died or turned muggle?  
  
"Um… do you have any siblings?"  
  
"One sister. Petunia." Lily's voice was devoid of emotion. "Do you have siblings?"  
  
"None. I'm an only child. Um… oh, I don't know!"  
  
"Think of something. Anything!"  
  
"Uh… pets! Do you have any pets?"  
  
"An owl. Her name's Snowdragon, because she's black." Lily smiled as James snorted. Because it was so dark, her face was shrouded in shadow. All he could make out were her teeth, glinting in the moonlight. "So when is your birthday?"  
  
"September 19th. And yours?"  
  
"November 25th. Do you have a favourite colour?"  
  
"Nope. Do you have a lucky number?"  
  
"Yes, actually. Seven. Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?"  
  
"This whole thing is confidential, right? You're not going to tell anyone?"  
  
"No, I won't say anything if you won't."  
  
"Deal! Yes, I do sleep with a stuffed monkey."  
  
"A monkey!" Lily began to giggle.  
  
"What's so funny?"  
  
"Oh, nothing, nothing." James could just make out a smile on her lips as she said it.  
  
"It'd better not be anything! Do you sleep with a stuffed toy?"  
  
"No, I'm not a monkey person." She was lying on her side now, and James whacked her on her shoulder with a length of his blanket.  
  
"You're asking for it," he told her with mock ferocity.  
  
"Okay! Sorry! How many girls have you dated?"  
  
"All up? Seven. And that includes Lydia Peterson in Year Two… and you?"  
  
"None. I don't date girls. You just wasted a question because of your bad phrasing," Lily informed him.  
  
"That's not fair! You knew what I meant!" Lily just laughed at him.  
  
"You didn't say so, though, did you? My turn… which of the seven did you like kissing most?"  
  
"Hey, now that isn't fair!"  
  
"Want to do the forfeit instead?"  
  
"We don't even have a forfeit!"  
  
"So we need one!"  
  
"What can it be, then?"  
  
"Uh… I dunno. Brainstorm. Say anything that comes into your head, no matter how impractical."  
  
"Okay… face-paint."  
  
"Cartwheels."  
  
"Hopping around the room three times."  
  
"Hey, I know! Here, follow me!" Lily jumped up and led James into the bedroom. She pointed to the wardrobe. "Open it," she instructed. James did so, and the wardrobe was full of a variety of clothes, all in his size. "Hmm." Lily said.  
  
She shut the cupboard door, and then opened it again, concentrating on 'weird clothes' as she did so. Inside there was an assortment of clothes that Lily would certainly term weird, for both males and females. She sorted through them, unearthing, among others, a long grey shawl, a pink top hat, a black and blue striped tank top, and a black tie covered in lime green spirals.  
  
"Perfect!" Lily exclaimed.  
  
"Would you care to explain, yet?" James asked.  
  
"Oh, right, sorry! Just wait a sec…" and Lily ran off back into the main room of the cabin. James shrugged his shoulders, rolled his eyes, and followed her. Girls were strange! When he caught up with Lily, she was muttering to herself.  
  
"Okay, this might not work… it is highly specialised… but I'll give it a try." She opened the cupboard. James was beginning to think that she had gone crazy.  
  
From inside the cupboard, Lily withdrew what looked like a black block of wood. It was plastic. Lily tapped it twice, and writing appeared on it. 'Bow to the nearest person/object.' Lily grinned.  
  
"Yes!" She tapped it twice more, and a loud beep came out from it. "Oh, right. Damn!" She turned and bowed to James, and then tapped it twice again. This time, different words appeared. It said, 'Cross your eyes and sing the alphabet backwards.' Lily laughed, and did so. James told her that she had flipped, but she just laughed again. "Don't worry! Come on, we'll take this stuff into the bedroom, and then I'll explain to you."  
  
"Oh, how kind of you," James muttered, but took armfuls of the cushions and the blankets into the next room anyway. Lily took extra cushions (she claimed that she wanted to be able to spread out on them) and the black plastic thing and followed him into the room. When they had set everything down, Lily started explaining to James.  
  
"Right, here's the idea. If you choose to do the forfeit, this is what will happen. You go to the wardrobe, take out, and put on the first thing that you pick out, with your eyes closed. Then you tap this thing twice, and it'll tell you what you have to do."  
  
"Okay. I get it. Sort of."  
  
"Yeah, well, you have to answer the question, or do the forfeit. What's your decision?"  
  
"I'll do the forfeit," he said with some trepidation.  
  
"Righty-ho! To the wardrobe!" Lily said merrily. James just looked at her. "Blame it on the dung," she advised him, laughing at herself. He just grinned and got up, then walked over to the wardrobe. He closed his eyes and picked out an item of clothing. It turned out to be a feather boa. And, although it was hard to see in the semi-darkness (the moonlight was bright), it appeared to be lemon yellow. James reluctantly wrapped it around his neck, ignoring Lily's stifled snickering. He came over and tapped the black oblong twice. Then he groaned.  
  
"What does it say?" Lily asked.  
  
Grimly, James replied, "Do the chicken walk two times around the room." Lily found it impossible to stifle her laughter at that.  
  
"You should've answered the question!"  
  
"Thanks, Lily," he said wryly. "Now watch; this is the first and last time you're ever going to see this." James stood up and did the forfeit. Lily laughed so hard she cried.  
  
"Happy?" James asked once he was finished, but he was grinning.  
  
"Oh yeah! If only I had a camera! So tell me, can I ask the same question again next time?"  
  
"No!" James told her emphatically as he took off the feather boa, and came back to sit down on his cushion, a scarce foot away from Lily. "My turn!" he said.  
  
"So ask."  
  
"How many guys have you dated?"  
  
"Three," Lily admitted. "Who, at Hogwarts, do you dislike the most?"  
  
"Easy! Malfoy. Okay, turnabout's fair play- who did you enjoy kissing the most?"  
  
"I'm not answering that either!"  
  
"Then go to the wardrobe!"  
  
"Fine!" Lily got up and withdrew a long, maroon, wrap-around skirt from the wardrobe. She put it on over her school robes, and then tapped the block. It said, 'Truthfully answer the next question directed at you in rhyme.'  
  
"Bloody Hell!" Lily exclaimed. "Oops, sorry if you're religious."  
  
"No, I'm not. Who would you trust your life to, if you had to choose someone at Hogwarts?"  
  
Lily glanced at James, thought for a second, and then recited, "The answer I cannot say faster, is of course our dear headmaster." She took one look at his face (similar to her own when he had withdrawn the feather boa) and said, "Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm not a poet." She wriggled out of the skirt and threw it across the room. "Hmm… my turn. If you had to give up all of your possessions but one, what would it be?"  
  
"I would have to say my invisibility cloak," James replied, after much thought.  
  
"Cool! I didn't know you had one."  
  
"Well, I do. That's the whole point of this game of questions. And now it's my turn." He paused for a second, considering something. Then he asked softly, "Do you mind me asking about your parents?"  
  
"No. Do you mind me asking about yours?"  
  
"No, I don't. How did your parents die?"  
  
"In a car crash. A drunk driver drove into them. They died instantly." Lily stopped for a moment, remembering. Then, "Are your parents dead?"  
  
"Yes. They were killed by a manticore two years ago." They were both quiet a moment, and then James said, "Let's lighten the atmosphere… what's your favourite school subject?"  
  
"Charms! That was a waste of a question," she said, laughing. "What's your least favourite subject?"  
  
"Divination- it's a complete waste of time. Choose one person at Hogwarts, apart from me, who you want to get to know better."  
  
"Remus. He seems nice, and he's really good friends with Mia – my best friend – but I really don't know anything about him. Um… oh, I have a good one! What piece of information don't you want me to find out?"  
  
"You want me to do another forfeit that badly?" he asked her, "fine!" He ended up putting on a blue sequinned overcoat, tap-dancing, and singing to the first song that came into his mind, which was 'Waltzing Matilda.' It made Lily wish once again that she had brought her camera. He finished, and then hurriedly took off the overcoat.  
  
"I feel stupid," James told her.  
  
"I'm not surprised." Lily said, keeping her face straight with difficulty. "Your tap-dancing skills could do with some improvement."  
  
"Would you like to demonstrate?" he retorted. "But now it's my turn, and you're going to pay for that! Hmm… what's a question that you don't want me to ask?" he meant it rhetorically, but he realised that it was just as good a question as any.  
  
"Forfeit," Lily said promptly. She jumped up and went over to the wardrobe. And then she groaned. "Oh, please tell me this isn't happening!" James jumped up and ran over.  
  
"I'm not that much of a pervert; though you're lucky you're not stuck here with Sirius. You don't have to wear that! Pick something else." Lily had chosen what was probably the skimpiest bikini in skimpy bikini history. She agreed quickly, and put it back. The next thing she picked up was a frilly pink dress.  
  
"Put it on!" James told her, smirking. Lily stuck her tongue out at him and went into the main room to change. It wasn't actually as bad as she had thought it would be. It looked okay, actually, as long as one overlooked the colour, and even that was bearable in the semi-darkness. Better that that bikini! She went back into the bedroom. James was back on his pile of cushions (considerably smaller than Lily's), under his blanket. Lily picked up the black thing and tapped it. The words, 'Kiss the nearest person,' appeared. She froze. James stood up to see what it was, peering over her shoulder, and then started laughing. He stopped very soon, though, when he realised that he was the only person within about three miles.  
  
"That's not so bad," Lily said, and she picked up his hand and kissed it. The black thing beeped. "Uh-oh," she said. Evidently the black oblong hadn't deemed it a proper kiss. Hesitantly she moved closer to James and kissed him on the cheek. There was another beep.  
  
"What is wrong with that machine?" she asked rhetorically, blushing hotly.  
  
"I think it wants a proper kiss," James said ruefully. Because it was dark, Lily couldn't see his face very well, but she guessed he was blushing just as strongly as she was.  
  
"Sorry about this," Lily whispered. She took a deep breath and kissed James on the lips. She felt very strange but she had decided to do this properly, so she would. She didn't want to have to kiss him again… probably. Her arms wrapped up around his neck as she continued to kiss him, and then his slowly came around her waist, holding her firmly, and he was kissing her back. The sensation was strange – she was kissing James Potter. She could see why the girls swooned over him, but all the same… he was James Potter! Finally, Lily withdrew for breath, and James let go of her. They both sat down without saying anything. "Um…" Lily was blushing even more. She could still feel James's lips on her own, and his arms around her.  
  
"The box liked that," James remarked.  
  
"Well, that's something. I guess I'll go and get changed." She went back into the other room, wondering why her heart rate had doubled. Fear and embarrassment, probably, especially since she had just kissed her previous worst enemy. She changed back into her robes, and got some hot chocolate from the cupboard. The night was cold. Lily then returned to James and gave him his cup. He murmured a thanks, and they sipped their drinks in silence.  
  
"Hot chocolate always warms me up," James said as he finished his drink and put his mug down.  
  
"That's why I got it," Lily said. Then, "I'm embarrassed."  
  
"I don't think I've ever seen you embarrassed before. Angry, but not embarrassed."  
  
"I'm glad we made up, I'm glad we're friends now, and I'm glad we did this detention. But I'm also glad it's you I'm sharing this with. If we hadn't come to like each other yesterday, we would have done so tonight."  
  
"Maybe that was the idea. What if this whole thing was set up by the teachers, not only to get the dung, but so we would get along?"  
  
"That's a possibility. I wouldn't put it past Dumbledore… which reminds me- we have to do a plan for the Christmas ball and give it to him in three weeks."  
  
"I'd forgotten about that! Can we start on it after lessons, then, one day next week?"  
  
"That's a good idea. We'll do it. Do you mind if I sleep now? I think the effects of the dung are wearing off." Even as she spoke, Lily felt fatigue wash over her. James didn't answer her, and Lily didn't notice. They had both fallen asleep.

**A/N I know that's not the conventional way Truth or Dare is played, but it's the version I always used to play with my friends… although it's been a long time now. I'm not sure whether I stole it from someone else or just added the extra bit in on my own, but that's not just artistic license. Hope you liked this chapter, and please leave a review! **


	5. Chapter Five

** Disclaimer: Most of it's not mine, and if it's yours I apologise for stealing it... unless you're J K Rowling, the theft was completely unintentional. If you are her... um, I apologise?**

_Chapter Five_

When Lily woke it was still dark. She was tired, so tired that she could barely think straight. And she was freezing. It was cold. By reflex, not thought, Lily grabbed her wand out of her pocket and muttered "lumos." The area around her immediately lit up. She was still on her cushion, under a blanket, but James was not on his cushion and his blanket was gone. Lily was desperately tired, but far too cold to sleep. She would freeze if she didn't do something. And she really, really needed to relieve herself. There wasn't a toilet here, though, she thought blurrily.   
  
She stood up, wrapped herself in her blanket, and went into the other room. The cupboard supplied her with a chamber pot, which she thankfully used and then returned to the cupboard. The architect who had made this place had serious problems. She opened the cupboard again to find it full of blankets. Lily grabbed about ten of them. Then, staggering under the weight, she dumped all of the blankets on the bed. James was in it, but she didn't care… right now, all she wanted was to be warm. She spread them out across the bed and James. She was getting colder. Her feet were numb, and her hands had lost all feeling. She climbed into the bed next to James, under all of the covers. He would keep her warm with his body heat, under all of the blankets, and she was too tired to care that she was technically sleeping with her ex-enemy. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered, apart from the cold and her fatigue.   
  
It was warm under the covers. Lily felt her arms and legs slowly begin to thaw. Finally, she felt her tiredness overcome her coldness, and she fell into a deep sleep.

When Lily woke up again, it was light. The cabin was flooded with bright sunlight. She was warm, but her nose was numb with cold. Looking around her, she found herself in a four-poster bed heaped high with blankets and a thick duvet. But hadn't she fallen asleep on a cushion on the floor? Then Lily realised that James was next to her, awake, and staring up at the ceiling. She remembered her night's adventure, freezing, and climbing in with James. At least it wasn't so cold now. And James was awake. Lily looked at her watch. It said it was two in the afternoon. She tapped James on the shoulder, and he jumped.   
  
"Oh! Lily." He just looked at her for a few seconds, and then he said, "Hey, weren't you on the floor when I moved to the bed?"   
  
"It was too cold. I got more blankets and came in here." She blushed at the situation. "Sorry, but it was so cold, and this was the only bed…"   
  
"No, that's okay. I was too cold to sleep on that cushion either. It'll just be awkward if we're found like this."   
  
"Mm. It's two o'clock now; we've slept over eight hours. I'm going to get up," Lily said. It was cosy and warm in the bed, but she really didn't want to be discovered in bed with James by Hagrid. They would be teased forever. She got out, and the moment her feet touched the floor they went numb with the cold. She had bare feet. Quickly, she pulled them back in again. "It's really, really cold."   
  
"I know. I'll brave it, and get some fresh clothes from the cupboard." He grinned at her, then added, "I'll get you some, too, if you like."   
  
"Please!" Lily said gratefully. James jumped out of his side of the bed. He ran quickly over to the wardrobe and opened the door. Lily watched him go. It was nice of him to do that for her, especially since it was so cold. Why was it so cold? It was only October, and it normally didn't start getting this cold until mid-November. He came back, threw a Hogwarts black robe at her, and climbed back into the bed, clutching his own. Under the covers, he wriggled about. Lily guessed that he was putting it on over his school robes, and she did the same. She finished first, and decided to once more brave the cold. She got out, and her feet went numb again. Trying to ignore the cold floor, she ran back to the wardrobe and opened it to thick, warm slippers. She immediately put a pair on her own bare feet, and took back a larger pair for James. He put them on, but they weren't big enough.   
  
"I'll get you a larger pair. I've got slippers on, and they're keeping my feet warm."   
  
"You don't mind?" James asked, even as he handed her the too-small slippers. Lily rolled her eyes and went back for a larger pair. This time, they fit. Then Lily caught a glimpse of the window.   
  
At the sight outside, she gasped. She hadn't looked at the window when she had gone to get the slippers, but she wondered how she could have missed it. It was completely white. It must be snow, she realised, but it was so deep! The entire window was covered by it, all except for two inches or so at the top that let in the sunlight that was flooding the room. James followed her gaze, and he gasped too. Within seconds they were both at the window, touching the cold glass. They were, without doubt, snowed in.   
  
"Let's go to the next room. Maybe we can see out of there," Lily suggested. The next room was no different; all the windows were snowed up to within two inches of the top. James dragged over a chair and stood on it, looking out of the top of the window.   
  
"Go up and look." James's face was grim, and he jumped down to let Lily see out. She stepped up and looked out of the window. Across the clearing was a sea of white, smooth and glistening in the cold sunlight. It was unmarked and pure. No birds hopped on it, no forest animals stepped on it. At the edges of the clearing, the top halves of trees poked forlornly out of the snow. Lily had no idea that that much snow could fall in one night. She must have been so tired that she'd slept through a blizzard!   
  
Stepping down, she asked James, "So what do we do?"   
  
"I suggest we light a fire," James told her, "have some breakfast, and then discuss it."   
  
Lily nodded agreement and went to light a fire. James disappeared back into the bedroom. By the time she had lit the fire James had re-emerged. He was wearing a thick black robe, with what looked like a fur-lined coat over the top. He still wore the slippers, but had added two pairs of thick socks.   
  
"I'll do something about breakfast," James said when she looked at him, "and you can get changed into proper clothes. They're much warmer, and more practical than wearing two Hogwarts robes."   
  
"I'll do that, then," Lily told him. "Thanks. Are you okay getting breakfast?"   
  
"Yeah, fine. Go ahead and get changed."   
  
Lily went into the next room. The bed had been made, and all of the blankets folded and piled neatly on top of it. She was surprised that he had thought to do that – there was certainly more to James Potter than met the eye. First the clothes, then getting out breakfast, and now making the bed – he had more courtesy than she had ever credited him with. She went to the cupboard and found the clothes she was looking for: fresh underwear, a thick black robe, and a fur-lined cloak. She quickly stripped. It took all of her determination to take off her inner robe, it was so cold. But eventually she was bundled up and warm again. She put her old clothes in the cupboard. When she needed them again she would find them, and probably clean and wrinkle-free if the magic wardrobe was worth anything. She returned to the main room, and was surprised yet again by James.   
  
He had set the table, small as it was, and put cushions on the hard wooden chairs to soften them. Plates of eggs, bacon, and sausages were on the table, along with toast, butter, orange juice, and even a vase of flowers! Lily's delighted surprise must have shown on her face, because James grinned at her.   
  
"Before you ask, yes, I did get all of this out of the cupboard."   
  
"Wow!" she said. She couldn't believe it… flowers! James just grinned even more broadly.   
  
"Should we eat, Miss Evans?"   
  
"Certainly, Mister Potter." They ate, and were halfway through their breakfast when a popping sound came from behind Lily. She immediately turned to look, and was shocked to see Professor Dumbledore's head sitting in the fire. James didn't look at all surprised, but happy and relieved. He rushed over to talk to Dumbledore, and Lily quickly followed. This must be some sort of wizard communication, faster than owls. Why didn't she know about it yet, though? Dumbledore was talking.  
  
"Oh good! When I tried before and there was no fire, I was quite alarmed. I suppose you two were still asleep?" James and Lily smiled, embarrassed.   
  
"Yeah, you see professor, that dung kept us awake until late. It's really strong!" James said.   
  
"Of course, Mr. Potter. Surely you've heard of Mooncalf dung in your Care of Magical Creatures studies?"   
  
"Well… er…" Lily grinned as she saw the twinkle in Dumbledore's eye.   
  
"Nevertheless, we have a slight problem," Dumbledore continued smoothly. "I do suppose you've noticed the snow outside?" The corners of his mouth twitched. "It is very early for the year, and we haven't had a blizzard like this for the last twenty years! In fact, the last time was when your parents, James, were at school. It was funny, really – they were both out in one of the greenhouses and-" Lily coughed slightly, and Dumbledore blinked. Then he smiled.   
  
"Perhaps this isn't the best time for that tale. As I was saying, snow so early, and of this magnitude, is very rare, very rare indeed. I recommend that you don't try to open the door, unless you wish to be smothered in snow. It will be a while before we can get you out, as all of the teachers are busy with the complications of this. It may be tonight, or even as late as tomorrow morning before we can come and get you out. Can you cope with that?"   
  
Lily nodded, taking it in. "We'll be fine, professor."   
  
"Yes, we'll be fine. This cupboard's really useful, and if we get desperately bored, there's always homework!" The headmaster grinned.   
  
"An admirable sentiment. I know I can trust you two, or you wouldn't be here in the first place. Oh, incidentally, have you two put your quarrels behind you?" His face seemed slightly mischievous, Lily thought. Maybe it was just a trick of the light. His head was completely surrounded in fire, after all.   
  
"Oh, yes, we made up the night we got our detention," she told him. Lily had decided that James was doing too much talking and it was time for her to put in a word.   
  
"Yes, yes, Minerva told me she saw you walking together yesterday. Truth to tell, she seemed slightly surprised. I can't think why." James and Lily both snorted, and the professor's eyes twinkled even more merrily. "Well, I have some rather pressing matters to attend to, so I'll be going now. I'll call in again at about eight o'clock, to tell you what's happening. Until then, I trust you'll be fine?"   
  
"Yes, Headmaster," they said at the same time.   
  
"Good. Well, goodbye, then." And with another pop, he vanished.   
  
"Well," James said. "I think that clears a bit up. Let's talk over our breakfast; it's probably cold by now."   
  
"Yes, sure." They went back to their chairs, and were eating when Lily asked, "What exactly was that? How did Dumbledore get into our fireplace?"   
  
"Magic," James replied, grinning at her.   
  
"Really? You know, I could have sworn somebody chopped his head off and threw it down the fireplace," Lily said mock-seriously.   
  
"Okay, sorry, sorry. Yeah, wizards use it for quick messages. Just sprinkle a bit of powder on the fire, stick your head in, and say distinctly where you want to look out. It might look strange, but it isn't nearly half as disorienting as Floo powder, and it's cheaper."   
  
"Right, thanks. So, what are we going to do all day? Well, for the rest of the afternoon?"   
  
"I guess we could make a start on the preparations for the Christmas ball."   
  
"Yeah, I guess so." Lily had already finished her breakfast, and James was just finishing his own. "Do we put this stuff back in the cupboard, then?"   
  
"I don't see why not."   
  
"Okay. I'll take some of this stuff, and get paper and quills from the cupboard."   
  
"I'll help." James reached over to pick up her plate, and for a second he was really close. Lily blushed, remembering the night before and the kiss. She allowed him to take her plate, and picked up the butter and toast plate. If she hadn't been feeling so embarrassed, and her heart wasn't beating so fast, then she might have noticed that James seemed to have the same symptoms as she.   
  
The afternoon passed slowly. Lily and James agreed on most of the plans for the Christmas dance. They would buy holly to float around the hall (the wizarding kind, naturally, that supposedly picked out soul mates. Lily was pretty sure it was a fraud, though, because last year it had picked out Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall), there would be the usual twelve Christmas trees, and normal Christmas decorations. Then they would have Butterbeer, if they could talk Dumbledore into it, Pumpkin juice, and the usual food and wizarding sweets.   
  
Lily and James decided to have a vote among the students for which band to book, and they would try to get the winner in to play, without telling the school which band had won. The ball would last three hours, from eight to eleven, but if everyone seemed to be enjoying it then they would ask the professors to extend it to midnight. As usual with balls, only fourth year and above were invited, but younger students could come if they were invited by the older ones.   
  
It only took two hours, so by half past four they were out of things to do. James half-heartedly suggested homework, and Lily half-heartedly agreed. They got out parchment, ink, and quills from the cupboard, but neither of them could be bothered to do any.   
  
At last, Lily said, "I have an idea! Let's come up with something to do to Snape. With the way he was taunting poor Peter about his crush on Narcissa…"   
  
"Yes!" James immediately threw his paper aside. "Any ideas?"   
  
"Hmm. Well, the old change-of-hair-colour trick has already been done, and dancing on tables, or singing gets old after a while. Snape's underwear has already been displayed all around the Great Hall for every April Fool's day for the past six years."   
  
"Yes, it's tradition," James said apologetically. "I know it isn't so funny after six years. We could do something with the song that never ends again…"   
  
"James!" Lily said exasperatedly. "You have a fixation! Think of something else!"   
  
"Okay, okay, it was just an idea." He said it sullenly, but a tiny smile crept onto his lips.   
  
"We could… uh… hey, I know!" Lily had an evil glint in her eye.   
  
"Yeah?"   
  
"What if," she replied slowly, her eyes shining, "we didn't do the prank on Snape, but on other people? We could make a love potion, and make all of the other Slytherins fall in love with him! It would be hilarious! And fitting revenge, too. Love is unpredictable, and all that." Lily had a huge grin of anticipation on her face.   
  
"Lily," James said with awe, "you are a genius! I knew that together we could come up with something to really get back at Snape!"   
  
"All in a day's work," Lily replied modestly, grinning. "And we've still got ages until Dumbledore calls. Let's find instructions for a love potion that can be brewed in three hours, and then get all the ingredients from the cupboard! If we do it now, then it can be ready for tomorrow. We'll get up early and put it in each of the jugs of pumpkin juice at the Slytherin table."   
  
"One problem. Love potions work for whoever the drinker sees first after taking the potion. I suppose we could figure out a way to set it solely for Snape, but it would be hard."   
  
"Hmm." Lily bit her lip. "Well, let's just try the cupboard. Maybe it will have something.   
  
"Okay." They went to the cupboard and James opened it. Inside were about ten scraps of paper, each with instructions on them. Lily took a handful, and James took what was left, and they settled on the floor to read them. The chairs were too uncomfortable, even with cushions, so they had settled on sitting on the big pillows on the floor again.   
  
Lily looked through her pile. They all seemed to need essence of the person the potion was destined for… hair, nail clippings, saliva, anything for the potion to focus on. At last, she turned to her last potion. It was no different to the others, but it only took twenty minutes to brew. She looked up, and James didn't seem to be having any luck either. He was reading one, and there was another on the floor, unread. Lily picked that up. She scanned the ingredients, and sure enough, it said 'essence of the object.' All of the ingredients used 'subject' to mean the drinker, and 'object' to mean the person the drinker would fall in love with.   
  
She turned back to James, and his eyes were shining. He had a triumphant smile on his face.   
  
"Lily! I've found it!"   
  
"A potion that doesn't need a focus?" she was happily surprised.   
  
"Yes! It says that all it needs is for all of the makers of the potion to be concentrating on the subject really hard when adding the last ingredient… fish tongue."   
  
"Let's try it then!" Lily said happily.   
  
"Wait a sec… I'm just scanning it for any side effects… oh. There is one."   
  
"What is it?"   
  
"Well, if you swallow any of the potion, you fall in love with whoever was being concentrated on at the time the potion was made. But, if any of the potion touches your skin externally but not internally, you fall in love with the first person you see. If we finish this potion, and drop any of it on ourselves, we fall in love with each other."   
  
"Well we'll just have to be very careful, won't we?"   
  
"Yes," James said with feeling. "The potion only lasts for two hours, but then, the professors will probably have taken it off all the Slytherins by then, anyway."   
  
"Good. Let's just try. We'll wear gloves and goggles and facemasks, and hopefully none will get on us. Does it matter if any vapour does, before the last ingredient is added?"   
  
"No, until the fish tongue is added there's no danger."   
  
"Okay then. Let's start."   
  
Fortunately, the cupboard had every ingredient needed, protective gloves and goggles, and it even had a collapsible cauldron! Lily and James got to work. They had done everything except adding the fish tongue by six o'clock.   
  
"Now," Lily said, "according to the instructions we have to let the potion sit for an hour, just to cool off, and then we add the last ingredient."   
  
"Should we move it into the bedroom, then? This room is considerably warmer than the other one, due to the fire, and anyway, we don't want to risk it getting knocked over. We'd have to start all over again." Between them, they managed to lift the heavy cauldron up and into the next, very cold, room. Lily was extremely glad that James's played Quidditch, because, thanks to the training, he was far stronger than she was. As soon as they had finally got it into the other room, Lily hit herself on the head.   
  
"Oh, stupid, stupid, stupid!"   
  
"What is?"   
  
"We could've performed that feather-light charm on it and just picked it up!"   
  
"Never mind," James said, "At least it's in here now. Let's get back to the other room, before we freeze! Even in these warm robes it's bloody cold."   
  
They got in, and decided to play exploding snap. The cupboard was really very obliging, and it had many different games when they opened it. Between them they took out chess, exploding snap, gobstones, and a muggle game that Lily remembered playing with her family ages ago, Monopoly. They played snap, and Lily won each of the three games they played. Then they played chess, and James won all of them. Then they went back to snap, and won two games each. They were setting up monopoly when they heard another pop from the fire. It was only half past seven, but Dumbledore was back.   
  
"I'm afraid I have some rather bad news," he told them.   
  
"Yes?" Lily asked, at the same time James said,   
  
"What is it?"   
  
Dumbledore replied grimly, "We have reason to believe that this snow is the doing of a dark wizard, currently going by the name of 'Lord Voldemort.' It is not melting in response to any of our treatments, and it may be quite some time before we can summon enough magic to disperse it and get you out of there."   
  
They were quiet for a moment, before Lily asked, "Have you tried salt?"   
  
"I beg your pardon?" Dumbledore raised an eyebrow.   
  
"Sorry, it's science, but it might work. Salt-water freezes at a temperature lower than zero, so when the snow absorbs salt, it ought to melt. I'm going on the assumption that this Voldemort put a spell on the snow that makes it stay at a temperature somewhere below zero. If that's so, then the ice will melt when you put salt on it. Unless this Lord Voldemort is keeping temperatures really low." Lily said all this slowly, thinking it through. It ought to work.   
  
James looked at her, an unreadable expression on his face. He obviously had no idea what she was talking about. Dumbledore, however, looked at Lily appraisingly. Then he broke into a smile.   
  
"You know, Miss Evans, I am sincerely grateful I made you Head Girl. You clearly have a good head on your shoulders. I never thought of that! Muggle electricity doesn't work around Hogwarts, but there's no reason why simpler science shouldn't. I will give it a try, and be back in about an hour." Dumbledore smiled again, and was gone.   
  
As soon as he had gone, James turned to Lily. "Huh?" was all he said.   
  
"Didn't you hear what I said?" Lily asked with exasperation.   
  
"Oh no, I heard. But… how the hell do you just spew all that off? From the top of your head? I take it from how Dumbledore reacted that it actually made sense? You know things like that?" James's voice held a mixture of surprise and amusement.   
  
"I did go to a muggle school for the first half of my life, you know. We do learn things at muggle schools. And I read a lot."   
  
"But I thought… I thought everything that you learned at muggle schools was rubbish! I didn't think any of it would be useful in the real world!"   
  
"Which real world?" Lily asked. Then she changed the subject, "Anyway, it doesn't matter. Let's go in there," she jabbed her finger at the door leading to the bedroom, "and add the fish tongue."   
  
"Right." They went in, and James measured out the fish tongue. They both concentrated hard on Snape's long hooked nose, his greasy hair, and his continuous smirk. And then it was done. The potion before the fish tongue was added was a deep red colour. Afterwards, it went instantly from red to violet, and then it continued on to blue, green, yellow, orange, and finally it went completely translucent, like water.   
  
"Okay, that's done. Now we have a problem. We can't carry this entire cauldron back to Hogwarts, so I think we need to put potion into bottles. Then we can make them feather light, and… figure out a way to get them to Hogwarts. Do you know if there's a spell to make objects invisible?" Lily asked.   
  
"Um…" James may have been about to say something, but Lily continued. To James, it appeared that she was talking to herself and just using him as a sounding board.   
  
"Oh, wait, yes, there is one! We learnt about it in charms the other day… something about invid… no, no, that wasn't it! Invisi… no, not that either. Hmm…" She finally stopped to breathe, and James got a word in edgewise.   
  
"Lily? You're right, it's a charm, and it's 'inverido.' We can bottle the potion, make it light, put it in bags of some sort, and then make the bags invisible. Simple!"   
  
"Oh… yeah, I guess so."   
  
"So we'll get the bottles now?"   
  
"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure." Lily was staring into space, thinking. Dumbledore would surely notice if they carried bags of bottles back to Hogwarts, even if they were feather-light and invisible. It wouldn't be that easy. So what if they used a summoning charm? Ac- something. Yes, that was right, Accio. They would have to carry the bottles a short way, just into the forest. Then they could put them down, under a tree or something, and then everything would be fine. Then there was a tapping on Lily's shoulder.   
  
"Hey, Lily? Lily, you awake?"   
  
"Oh, sorry. Yes, I was just thinking." She relayed her idea to him, and James agreed that it was more sensible than carrying the bottles all the way back to Hogwarts. So they decided. When Lily had been thinking it over, James had gone and come back with plenty of bottles, two ladles, and gloves and goggles for both of them. Lily had no idea how he had managed to carry it all, but he had. Maybe he had made two trips?   
  
But that was beside the point. The bottles were glass. The bottling went well, and within an hour most of the bottles were filled, about twenty in total. James was just doing the last one when Lily got up and stretched. Her legs were cramped from sitting for so long. She took off her gloves and stretched her fingers, but put the gloves on immediately because it was cold.   
  
"Done!" James said with satisfaction. He stood up, and together they moved all of the bottles to a corner of the bedroom. They collapsed the cauldron, and took it and the ladles back to the cupboard. The extra ingredients that they hadn't used also went back, and pretty soon the rooms were looking normal again, apart from the two big cushions on the floor, and twenty-two bottles full of clear liquid on the floor of the next room.   
  
Lily was just taking two mugs of hot chocolate (complete with cream and marshmallows) out of the cupboard when Dumbledore appeared in the fire with a pop. Lily didn't even blink this time, but smiled at her headmaster.   
  
"Did it work, Professor?"   
  
"It is in the process of working," Dumbledore informed her. "Six feet of snow is no joking matter. Science is reluctant to work in the vicinity of such strong magic as that at Hogwarts, so it is compromising itself by working very slowly. Of course, that may just be because Voldemort put very strong spells on the snow, but we will see. We still have to find out why he wanted Hogwarts snowed in, anyway. But back to the subject. It appears that the snow will be melted by morning. The dung did get to the plants before the blizzard, so I assume they are doing well. The greenhouses have heating charms on them. When the snow is melted we will have access to the broomsticks, and will be able to fly through the forest to you. We can try normal heat, and if that doesn't work, we will resort to salt. So, do you have any questions?"   
  
James and Lily exchanged glances, and then James spoke up. "So we're staying the night here again? And you'll come and get us tomorrow?" He tended to take the lead with professors, which had always previously annoyed Lily. But he wasn't showing off his big ego, he was just doing what came naturally, being a leader and exercising his confidence. It was really amazing how liking a person could throw a whole new light on him. Lily couldn't imagine hating James; they had quite a lot of fun in the last however long they had been in the cabin.   
  
"Yes, that is, I am afraid, the case. Will you two be able to cope?"   
  
"Yes professor, we'll be fine." Lily said, smiling reassuringly.   
  
"Yeah, professor. You made us the head students!"   
  
Dumbledore snorted. "I'll admit, it was one of my more controversial decisions," At the look on James's face, Dumbledore chuckled, and added, "but the teachers who were opposed to my decision have all changed their minds. However grudgingly." Lily didn't know whether or not he was joking, or whether he was addressing his comment to James or to both of them.   
  
"Thankyou, Professor," James said. He was sincere, for the moment.   
  
"Well, I will be off again. If anything big comes up, I will call in again, so please try to keep the fire up, at least until ten tonight. If not, I will call in on you tomorrow with an update. Good night!" Lily and James wished him a good night, and he left. Then Lily realised that her stomach was growling, and her watch told her it was nine o'clock. "Let's eat!" she said to James, who readily agreed.   
  
"Yes! What should we have?"   
  
"Pizza," Lily decided.   
  
"Huh?" he asked, a puzzled look on his face.   
  
"No way! You can't not have had pizza!" she said incredulously. James grinned.   
  
"You're right. I've had pizza." Lily grinned back and punched him lightly on his shoulder.   
  
"Idiot!"   
  
They got a pepperoni pizza from the cupboard, complete with garlic bread, and shared both. After they had finished, James suggested, "Why don't we put the bottles in bags, and make them feather-light tonight. Then all we have to do tomorrow is make them invisible."   
  
"Yes. Let's do that now." They went in and put bottles into bags, six to a bag. There were three full bags, and then four bottles left. Lily picked them up to put them in another bag on their own, and as she picked up the last one, disaster struck. The bottle slipped out of her hands. Before it even touched the floor, Lily shouted, "Close your eyes!" She followed her own advice, and her eyes were shut tight by the time the bottle hit the floor. There was a crash, and then Lily found herself absolutely drenched. Keeping her eyes shut, Lily asked, very calmly, considering the situation, "James, are your eyes shut?"   
  
"Yeah, they are. I take it you dropped a bottle?"   
  
"Yes. Are you wet?"   
  
"Drenched."   
  
"Did you close your eyes in time?"   
  
"I think so. At any rate, I don't feel any more in love with you than I do normally!" They both laughed, but it was on the verge of being hysterical. Think calmly, Lily told herself, think rationally!   
  
"Okay. I'm going to feel my way to the other room, and close the door. I'll call through to you when you can open your eyes. Then you get changed, and knock on the door when you're done. We'll close our eyes, and I'll go in and change while you go outside."   
  
"Right. Okay. Sure." James's voice was calm. He sounded every inch the responsible Head Boy, not the troublemaker he usually was. Lily felt her way to the door, and opened it.   
  
"I'm going outside now," she said in a calm voice, "I'll knock twice on the door when I'm through."   
  
"Sure. Fine." Lily went out of the room, closed the door, and then opened her eyes and knocked on it twice. She was wet! Her hair was drenched, and her robes were clinging to her body. It was freezing cold. She immediately went over to the cupboard, took out a blanket, and stripped off everything apart from her underwear. She wrapped herself in the blanket, and then got out two blindfolds. They needed to talk, and keeping their eyes screwed shut wasn't going to help anything. At least they had already eaten… eating separately would be a mess.   
  
James knocked on the door, and Lily went over to it and slipped on her blind-fold. "Are your eyes shut?" she asked.   
  
"Yes," was the muffled reply.   
  
"Okay, I'm going to slip a blind fold under the door. Put it on, and then we'll exchange rooms." Lily slipped the blindfold under the door and waited.   
  
"Okay, thanks Lily, I've got it. I'm putting it on now… done. I'm coming through now." Lily stepped back, James came in, and Lily went into the bedroom.   
  
"Ok, I'm through. I'll close the door now." Lily said.   
  
"Right." Lily closed the door and took off the blindfold. She immediately went over to the wardrobe and took off her blanket and underwear. She quickly changed into clean, dry, and warm clothes, and then went back to the door, carefully avoiding the bottles of love potion. She knocked on the door, and then James was replying from the other side.   
  
"Okay, we need to talk. Are you comfortable on that side of the door? Are you warm enough?" James asked.   
  
"Yes, we need to talk. If you could open it a bit and pass me through a cushion I would be grateful."   
  
"I'll do that. Wait a sec. Oh, and put your blindfold on. If you see my hand…"   
  
"Yes." Lily replaced her blindfold and waited. Soon, she felt a cushion at her feet.   
  
"Thanks, James."   
  
"That's okay. You can take it off now." Lily took her blindfold off again and sat down on the cushion, facing the closed door. This would be hysterically funny if it wasn't so serious.   
  
"Right. James, we're in trouble."   
  
"Good observation," he said, sarcastically.   
  
"Please, save the sarcasm for later. We need to think. Now, we can't not look at anyone forever. We could wait until tomorrow, and get Madame Pomfrey to give us an antidote. But then she'll find out about our plan, and it'll be a good prank wasted. Also, if we do that, then we'll have to not look at each other until Dumbledore comes to get us. That'll be practically impossible, not to mention that our Head Student status will be imperilled."   
  
"Imperilled? Do you have to use such long words?" James said it jokingly, trying to lighten the atmosphere. Usually, Lily would have become annoyed, but she knew he did take the situation seriously. He was just trying to make it a little more bearable while he thought. Lily stayed silent, waiting for his ideas.   
  
"Um, Lily? You're not going to like this, but I think we only really have one option."   
  
"I think so too." Lily knew what he was going to say.   
  
"It'll only be for two hours, the potion wears off after then. And then we can still go through with our plan. It's half past ten now, so Dumbledore won't be calling us."   
  
"Yes. We can't let all of that work go down the drain." Lily replied. She felt very strange. No one need ever find out, she told herself. We keep this between ourselves, just like the kiss last night. She smiled wryly to herself. "You know, James, I think that fate is out to get us. First the forfeit last night, and now this."   
  
"It seems that way. Are you sure about this, Lily?"   
  
Lily shivered, and she didn't know whether it was only because of the cold. "Yes. Let's do it." Her voice was resolute. It was, after all, only two hours.   
  
"In that case, I'm opening the door. Wait; let's time this exactly. If you see me before I see you, or vice versa, it's going to be pretty embarrassing. Close your eyes; I'm opening the door," James said.   
  
Lily stood up and closed her eyes. She heard the door open, and then a hand groped in the air by her side for her own hand. Lily took it. She heard James's reassuring voice. "Okay, take off your blindfold now, but keep your eyes shut." Lily did as he said with her free hand, her other one still encased in James's. He squeezed her hand reassuringly, and then took a deep breath and said, "Open your eyes." Lily did so, and found herself looking into James's eyes.   
  
They were so brown, warm, and comforting. She felt herself falling and spinning...   
  
The next thing she knew, she was standing in the main room of the hut with James's arms around her, hers around him, her lips pressed against his, her arms around his neck, her… She stopped suddenly and pulled back. What had happened? Why was she standing here, kissing James, of all people? James's face showed equal shock and surprise. His hair was more mussed than usual, she noticed, and his mouth… she shook her head to clear it. Why was she thinking of James like this? Then the events of the past few days registered… they had made up. She and James had become friends. They had got stuck in a blizzard and got snowed in the hut. She had played truth, and done a forfeit where she had kissed him. And then they had made a love potion together. She had dropped the bottle. And she had faced James. Her mind was whirling… had the potion taken effect? She didn't feel any different to normal. Hadn't the potion worked? She looked up at James, into his eyes. Although he was not kissing her anymore he was still standing close. His mind seemed to be in turmoil.   
  
Then he whispered, "Did it work? Was that why we were kissing?"   
  
Lily shrugged, her eyes not leaving his. "What time is it?" she asked.   
  
"I don't know," James whispered.   
  
"I should check," Lily whispered back. Then she got a hold on herself, and shook her head vigorously. She looked at her watch. 12:35. She read the numbers aloud, "Twelve thirty-five. My watch is wrong. It should be ten thirty. Check yours." She looked back up at James, but he was looking at his own watch and shaking his head. He looked back up at her, into her eyes once more.   
  
"No, mine says twelve thirty-two. We just can't remember the love potion's effects!"   
  
"That's a relief. I think," she said. His eyes were strangely compelling. Lily decided it must be the after-effects of the potion. She put a finger to her lips. They were warm, and tingling. "Maybe we should sleep now."   
  
"Yes," James agreed hurriedly. Then, almost with embarrassment, he said, "I guess we'll have to share the bed again. Let's just sleep in these clothes, and get more blankets."   
  
"Yes." They didn't move, though. Finally, James shook his head violently.   
  
"Sorry. I'm going to splash water on my face. Maybe that will help." He went to the cupboard and opened it to a pitcher of water. He splashed his face and shook his head. Little water droplets flew everywhere. Lily also washed her face, and felt much better for it. They put the pitcher back in the cupboard, closed it, and then took out a pile of blankets each. In about five minutes, both teenagers were in the bed together under at least ten blankets. They were barely touching, and neither said a word as they occupied their own thoughts. Slowly, Lily and James drifted off to sleep.


	6. Chapter Six

**A/N The italics in this chapter are Lily's dream, except when used to emphasise words. As to the people who told me that love potions aren't allowed in Hogwarts… I know that! But since when did the marauders follow the rules? That's all I have to say on the subject. I'm feeling rather unloved here, but it's a repost, so not really surprising. And it definitely needed doing. Anyway, if anyone _is _reading this for the first time, I hope you like this chapter.  
  
Disclaimer: Most of it's not mine, and if it's yours I apologise for stealing it... unless you're J K Rowling, the theft was completely unintentional. If you are her... um, I'm sorry?  
  
**

Chapter Six

Lily was standing behind a closed wooden door. It was cold, even though she was wrapped in warm clothes. Then she closed her eyes and opened the door. A hand took her left one, and she opened her eyes. She was staring straight into the brown eyes of James Potter. But it wasn't the James Potter she knew. It wasn't the annoying egotistical one she had hated, or even the witty, funny, intelligent one she had come to like. This was a sensitive James, a caring, good-looking, trust-worthy James that Lily would go to the end of the world for. And his eyes told her that he felt exactly the same about her. Her knees felt weak, but James held her up. The real James, the one he from the world but showed to her now. The one that she loved.  
  
She could see the yearning in his eyes, the longing and the love that he was suppressing by sheer strength of will. Was it the same thing that she was feeling? She leaned in closer to him, so her nose was only inches from his. He did not move back, and Lily took that for encouragement. She tilted her head sideways and kissed him. He was still for a moment, rigid with surprise and wonder. Lily stopped immediately… had she been mistaken? Did he not love her? Did he even like her?  
  
She tried to move back, hurt visible in her eyes, but James's arms that were holding her now would not let her go. He had a smile on his lips as he drew closer and kissed her himself. Lily responded immediately. So he did like her! Somehow they moved to the main room and onto the floor cushions. Eventually, Lily drew back and looked at James. He was smiling.  
  
"Lily?" he asked.  
  
"Yes, James?"  
  
"I think I'm in love with you. Love potion or not, I think I always have been." He bit his lip, a little nervously, waiting for her to reply.  
  
She grinned. "That's how I feel." She felt another wave of love and gratitude wash over her, and kissed James again. "Love potion or not," she whispered. "Let's not forget this when the potion wears off." She leaned forward once more to capture his lips with hers.   
  
Lily awoke slowly. The sun was streaming in from the window, making interesting patterns on the roof. She was so warm and comfortable. When she amassed enough energy to look over to her right, she saw James next to her. He was much closer to her now than he had been the night before. He was right up against her. As she looked at him, Lily remembered the dream. She began to blush hotly, and just at that moment, James opened his eyes.  
  
"Hmm… Lily…" he said sleepily, "Love you…" Then he shook his head and woke up properly. "I didn't say that! It was a dream!"  
  
Lily smiled uncertainly. "It's okay. I think I had the same dream." She rolled onto her side so that she could look at him without twisting her head uncomfortably. "It was real, wasn't it?"  
  
"Yes." James said. "Of us under the love potion. It felt so real… it must have been real."  
  
"Yeah." They didn't say anything else for a while, but lay there in the warmth of the bed, dreading getting out into the cold. Strangely, Lily didn't feel embarrassed. She moved her wrist up, to see what time it was. Ten o'clock! They had slept for a long time.  
  
"I know the only place we can sleep is together, but it's gonna be kind of embarrassing if we're found like this. Maybe we should get up?"  
  
"Okay. I'll go and talk to Dumbledore, you can stay here and get changed." He thought for a second, and then added, "Unless you want to talk to Dumbledore?"  
  
"No, that's fine." Lily grinned. He had come to know her pretty well.  
  
"I'll get up then." But he didn't. He lay in bed and looked at her for another thirty seconds before finally getting up. After he had gone, Lily stood up. She went over to the cupboard and opened it in search of clothes, thinking how badly she wanted a nice warm shower. The cupboard opened fully, and gave Lily the shock of her life. It had opened onto a bathroom!  
  
In wonder, she closed the door and opened it again. Sure enough, the bathroom was still there. She closed and opened it again, thinking this time of clothes. There were clothes inside. She repeated the process, thinking of a pile of chocolate frogs. All she came across was an empty cupboard. Then she conducted a real experiment. Blankets? Yes, the cupboard had them. Pillows? Yes, them too. Food? No such luck. A toilet? Yes! No more chamber pots! A room with an extra bed? Yes. A room with a desk? Yes, that too. A dining room? Yes. A garden? No, the magic didn't seem to stretch that far. There was a knock on the door. Lily heard the amused voice of James through it.  
  
"You're taking a long time to change in there!"  
  
"I'm not changing!" Lily called back. "Come on in!"  
  
"What's up?" James asked as he walked into the room. He saw her standing next to the closed wardrobe door and his face creased into a perplexed frown.  
  
"The wardrobe isn't only a wardrobe!" Lily said as soon as he reached her.  
  
"Huh?" James said in confusion. Lily grew impatient and opened the wardrobe to reveal the bathroom. "Oh!"  
  
"We're monosyllabic today, aren't we?" she asked him.  
  
"Excuse me," James replied, slightly hurt.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry! I'm just in need of a hot shower. Do you mind if I go first?"  
  
"No, go ahead."  
  
"Thank you! See you in a bit!" James grinned and left, and Lily closed the wardrobe. She re-opened it to get out fresh clothes, and then she closed and opened it again to get into the bathroom.  
  
Twenty minutes later, Lily stepped out of the wardrobe/bathroom and performed the charm for drying her hair. She loved magic! She went into the main room, and told James (who was lying on some cushions reading a book) that it was his turn for the shower. He went off, and Lily began to get breakfast. She had just finished setting the table when James re-emerged.  
  
"You were quick!" It had barely been five minutes.  
  
"I know. But I'm clean. Let's eat!" Lily rolled her eyes but did not remark.  
  
They sat down and ate their breakfast. They were clearing the table when Dumbledore called in via the fire. With the pop that Lily was now accustomed to, he appeared.  
  
"The virtues of muggle science are indeed full of wonder!" He was looking very happy, so Lily guessed that the salt idea had been a full success. "Are you two coping?"  
  
"Yes, professor," Lily and James said at the same time. They grinned at each other.  
  
"Good, good. Now, would you like to hear the state of things at the school?" Both head students nodded their heads eagerly. "The snow has all been melted, and the plants in the greenhouse are doing well. Your mooncalf dung could not have come at a better time. Without it, Professor Sprout assures me, the plants may not have lasted through the snow. We still have not determined the reason Voldemort kept the school frozen in, but we have ascertained that it was indeed he who placed the spells on it. The ministry is trying to find out his reasons as we speak, but based on their record I doubt they will have much success. As to getting you two out, a few of the professors who have no classes today are on their way.  
  
"They will be there shortly, and will spread the salt around. However, I suspect the salt will take a while to melt the snow. Can you two continue to keep each other occupied for the remainder of your time together?"  
  
"We'll be fine, professor," Lily reassured him.  
  
"Yeah, we've already done the plans for the Christmas ball and most of our homework!" James answered truthfully. Dumbledore smiled.  
  
"You must have been desperate! Will you be able to keep from dying of boredom in the next few hours?"  
  
"Yes. We'll be fine," Lily repeated reassuringly.  
  
"Yeah, professor. If we do get bored, we can always go back to insulting each other." James grinned  
  
"I would rather you didn't!" Dumbledore said, serious for a moment. "Oh, when you get back to the school, would you two please report to my office? The password is 'fudge flies.'"  
  
"Sure, professor. We'll see you!"  
  
"Goodbye, then." Dumbledore grinned, and was gone.  
  
James turned to Lily and grinned. "So now what?"  
  
"We might as well make the potion invisible now."  
  
"Okay. Right."  
  
They very carefully made the potion bottles invisible, and then settled down for the rest of the day. They read a bit, and then they played monopoly. James did not like the game. He claimed he wanted to stop because it was boring, but the real reason was because Lily had bought Mayfair and Park Place. Either way, they stopped playing monopoly and went onto wizarding snakes and ladders. It was interesting, because whenever your piece landed on a square with a snake, the snake really _did_ eat it. James won one game of that, and Lily two. They went back to reading, and then had sandwiches for lunch.  
  
After they had finished, Lily noticed that the snow had subsided considerably. In fact, it had gone down so much that the window would now open. Unfortunately, the door still would not. James went over to the window and opened it, with Lily close behind him.  
  
"Hello?" he called out, loudly. There was silence for a second, and then four professors came out of nowhere on broomsticks. It gave Lily, and James too by the look on his face, the shock of her life. "Wh… where did you come from?" James asked, stammering slightly.  
  
Professors McGonagall, Sprout, and Flitwick were there, accompanied by Hagrid. They were all on broomsticks. Lily was surprised that Hagrid had not broken his, but it was still in one piece despite the ominous creaking that it was emitting. "We were on the roof, Mr. Potter," McGonagall replied primly. Despite her words, Lily could tell that she was glad to see the two head students.  
  
"Um, professor?" Lily asked. "Can we just climb out of the window, or do we have to wait for the door to open?" Although Lily had addressed her question to McGonagall, it was Flitwick who answered.  
  
"Come now. Is there anything you brought with you?"  
  
"No," James said, as Lily replied,  
  
"I don't think so."  
  
"Good," Flitwick said. "_Accio broomsticks!_"  
  
"Climb on!" Hagrid said cheerfully, "an' we'll be off!" Lily and James did as they were bid, and soon they were flying high above the treetops back to Hogwarts. Lily had never imagined Professor McGonagall on a broomstick, but to her surprise the Transfiguration teacher flew very well. As they were flying, Professor Sprout updated them on the situation of things at Hogwarts.  
  
"We have used salt on the Quidditch Pitch, the area directly around Hogwarts, and the paths to Hagrid's hut and the greenhouses. We didn't melt the snow everywhere for two reasons. Firstly, that much salt is hard to get, and secondly, it would badly damage the ecosystem of the Forbidden Forest. As it is, if we don't do something soon the salt will get into the soil and kill of all the grass. So, everyone in fourth year and above will help to remove the salt in his Herbology lessons this week."  
  
It seemed that Herbology was going to be even more boring than usual. James was looking gloomy. Then Hogwarts came into view, and soon they were once again flying over a sea of white. At last, they reached the castle. Six metres around Hogwarts were clear of snow, and that was where the group of six landed. The professors all left, either to their offices or to teach classes, after they had reminded Lily and James to find Dumbledore.  
  
They arrived at Dumbledore's office without mishap, and the password that the headmaster had given them was correct. Once inside his office, Professor Dumbledore smiled warmly and asked them to sit. They did so.  
  
"It appears that you did not kill each other. Did anything significant happen in the last two days that I'm not aware of?"  
  
"We got along pretty well, professor. And we've done the plans for the Christmas ball." _Along with a kiss or five and a love-potion accident,_ she added silently.  
  
"Oh!" James said. He hit his forehead. "We left them on the table in the hut!" Dumbledore tried unsuccessfully to stifle a smile, and Lily rolled her eyes.  
  
"Can we summon them here, professor?"  
  
"In a normal case, whether or not it would work would be doubtful," Dumbledore told them gravely, "However, you are the best students in the year, and the school. You may try, Miss Evans." Lily glowed with the praise from the headmaster, and she went to the window and opened it. She summoned the paper with the Accio charm, and prayed that it worked. For a few seconds, she thought that it wasn't working, but soon she saw a piece of parchment approaching rapidly. She moved her wand slightly, and it decelerated. The parchment swept smoothly in through the window, and into Lily's outstretched hand.  
  
"Very good, Lily." Dumbledore approvingly. Lily smiled, and James frowned slightly. Dumbledore grinned. "I will call you to my office when I have the ministry verdict as to why Voldemort snowed us in. Meanwhile, you may occupy yourselves for the rest of the afternoon. Unless, of course, you would prefer to go to classes?" It was two o'clock, and Lily and James would ordinarily be having double potions around now and then history of magic, before dinner.  
  
"No!" they said at the same time. Dumbledore suppressed a smile, and this time he succeeded. With only his eyes twinkling to give away his amusement, the headmaster gave them permission to go. They whiled away the afternoon by finishing homework due for the next day. Then they chatted for a bit, and went down to dinner. At first, the Great Hall was empty, but after only a minute the doors burst open and Gryffindor fifth years poured in.  
  
In no time, the Marauders, Lily, and her friends were all sitting together, talking. Well, not quite talking. They seemed to have grown accustomed to having Lily and James on speaking terms, but there were a lot of questions about how they had spent the last two days. It seemed that none of the teachers had thought to tell the school where their head students were. Lily and James gave an account of their last two days, leaving out the game of 'Truth' and the love potion. Their friends were satisfied with their accounts of the time, but spent a long time teasing James and Lily unmercifully about sleeping in the same double bed. In the end, the two fled from their 'friends.'  
  
"Going off together, are we? Is there something about your new friendship that we should know?" Sirius called out teasingly. All who were seated laughed, apart from James who was already rising. They walked out together, with their friends calling out remarks. Neither James nor Lily looked back, walking haughtily. As they got outside, Lily said,  
  
"They'll be after us as soon as they realise we're not coming back."  
  
"So where to?"  
  
"Head Girl bathroom?"  
  
"I've never been in there!" Lily started walking, and James paced her.  
  
"I should hope not! What's the Head Boy bathroom like?"  
  
"Like the prefects' one. Big bath, toilet, not much else."  
  
"Really? The Head Girl's is like a sitting room. I take Trinity, Lisa, Mia and Kate there when we want to escape our gossiping roommates. Or to gossip about our roommates."  
  
"Don't you like the other Gryffindor girls?"  
  
"Yeah, they're nice enough. They can just be annoying sometimes." James raised an eyebrow at her. "Okay, they can be very annoying, most of the time. They keep going on about how good-looking you are!" James grinned.  
  
"And you keep contradicting them?"  
  
"But of course!" James laughed, and Lily joined in. She couldn't help wondering, however, whether or not she would contradict them if they said he was good-looking now. That dream had certainly made Lily think. Lily arrived at the bathroom, a seemingly blank wall halfway down a little-used corridor.  
  
"Cover your ears!" she told James.  
  
"Do I have to?" he asked whiningly.  
  
"Let me think about that one." Lily pretended to think it over. Then, "Yes!"  
  
"Fine, fine." James covered his ears.  
  
Lily whispered the password, "James Potter is an asshole!" The wall disappeared, and Lily pulled James through the opening. It became a door behind them. He withdrew his hands from his ears. "Did you hear?" she asked.  
  
"No, I didn't. Will you tell me what it is?" he said hopefully.  
  
"It was something offensive about you. I haven't been in here for a while." James pouted and Lily laughed.  
  
Then James seemed to notice his surrounding for the first time. His face was a picture of surprise and admiration. Lily looked around the familiar room. The small couches on one side, the dressing table complete with magical make-up (it wasn't Lily's; it had already been there when she inherited the head girl position), and the bathtub. The room was painted sky-blue. When she had first come, the colour scheme had been a sickly pink and lavender. She spent a weekend in the library researching the necessary charms to change the colour of everything, and it had been worth it.  
  
James stopped gaping enough to say, "Wow!"  
  
"Nice, isn't it?"  
  
"I'll say! Much better than mine!"  
  
"Do you want to sit down?" Lily asked. They made their way to the sofas and sat.  
  
"I thought that it would be… oh, I don't know… more _pink_. You know, being a girl's bathroom and all." Despite his smile, James was serious. She grinned guiltily.  
  
"Um, actually, it was. I just sort of got sick of pink after a while." He laughed. They chatted for a while, getting to know one another better. James learned that Lily did not get on well with her sister. Before Lily's parents had died, they had forced the sisters to be nice to each other. Now, Petunia was not so nice. Lily would not elaborate, but James had the feeling that Petunia had said or done something soon after their parents' deaths that had really hurt Lily.  
  
Before they knew it, it was eight o'clock, and dark outside. Lily could not believe that they had talked for an hour and a half. She had spent a lot of that time laughing, as James spent the time recounting his more ingenious pranks. Finally, James said,  
  
"Do you want to do the love potion thing tonight?"  
  
"I guess. Just to show them that we haven't wasted the last two days!"  
  
"So we'll summon the potions now?"  
  
"Might as well." They got up and Lily opened the window. She summoned one bag, just to see if it would work or not. She saw a slight blur in the air in front of her, and remembered that it was invisible. She flicked her wand, and the blur of air slowed down. Then it thumped into her hands as Lily caught it. James was looking at her as if she had gone crazy.  
  
"The bags are invisible! You can only see them as a blur of air."  
  
"Oh, right! So we'll summon the other two now?" Lily nodded and said, for the second time,  
  
_"Accio love potion bottles!"_  
  
Lily saw the blur, slowed it down, and caught the bag of bottles. As she was doing so, Lily heard James say, _"Accio potion bottles!" _She bent down to place her bag next to the other one, and heard James shout, "Close you eyes!" Lily did so immediately, and had a feeling of déja vu as she heard a smash and then got completely soaked.  
  
"It was my fault, this time," James said.  
  
"So now what do we do?" Lily straightened up.  
  
"Uh…"  
  
"Let's move to the couches and think this over. Follow the wall on your right. You'll eventually come to the sofas. Don't open your eyes – yet, anyway."  
  
"Right," he said. If Lily had her eyes open, she would have seen a strong blush on his cheeks.  
  
They made it to the couches. "Right, I'm sitting. Are you?"  
  
"Yes." The voice came from her left, so Lily assumed that he was sitting next to her. She put out her hand, and it came into contact with a face.  
  
"Lily!"  
  
"Sorry, sorry," Lily said. "You didn't open your eyes, did you?"  
  
"No, I didn't. So…"  
  
"So what happened?"  
  
"I saw the blur, but I couldn't control it. Instead of slowing down, it sped up. I guess my charms need a bit of work." His tone was apologetic. "So what do we do?"  
  
"I guess we don't have much of a choice. Open our eyes?"  
  
"Yes. Where's your hand?"  
  
"Here." Lily put hers out, below the level she had last time, aiming for his arm. She got his shoulder… close enough. She felt downwards, feeling the slight blush creeping into her cheeks as she did so. They gripped hands.  
  
"Open your eyes… now." Lily did so, and found herself looking into James's eyes again. She continued to look into James's eyes, waiting. Three minutes passed, then four, then five. Still, nothing happened. Surely, last time she had felt dizzy, and she had thought she was falling. What was going on? Had they woken up already?  
  
Lily looked at her watch, but it told her 8:16. Wasn't the potion working? Lily looked back up at James. "Are you… did you feel it?"  
  
"Why isn't the potion working?" James asked her, "Is it working for you?"  
  
"No, at least, I don't think so. I don't feel any different about you than I normally do." How did she normally feel about him?  
  
Last month, she had hated him. On Sunday, she had liked him. But today… how did she feel about him today? With a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, Lily finally realised why the potion didn't seem to be working. She looked at James, a lump forming in her throat. He looked back at her, into her eyes.  
  
Slowly, James said, "I know why the potion isn't working on me."  
  
**A/N II: My, was I pleased about this cliffhanger the first time around. Hope it's not too bad this time – and don't worry, I'm not being quite as predictable as this chapter leads you to believe. **


	7. Chapter Seven

**Disclaimer: Most of it's not mine, and if it's yours I apologise for stealing it... unless you're J K Rowling, the theft was completely unintentional. If you are her... um, I'm sorry? **

_Chapter Seven_

"I think I know why the potion isn't working," Lily said, still looking into James's eyes.  
  
"Me too." He smiled slightly, and then he kissed her. This was the first time that he had kissed her, when she was in control of her own actions. Was she in control? She found her arms wrapping around James's back, and she responded to his kiss. Could this be defined as control? Of course it was control, she told herself. It was what she wanted. But then, maybe the potion controlled the want. Maybe the effects of the first one hadn't yet worn off, or maybe it just worked a different way this time. Whatever was happening, she needed for her brain to be in control, no matter how much her emotions protested. Reluctantly, Lily broke off the kiss. James's eyes immediately filled with concern.  
  
"Are you okay?" he asked, "What's wrong?"  
  
"I need to think," Lily replied. It was true, she had to sort out this muddle before it became too much. She loved James… didn't she? Was it really her feelings, or was it the potion? The potion only worked for two hours, according to the recipe. Had she felt this way before she had taken the potion? Had she felt like this before she had taken the potion for the first time? Lily wasn't sure.  
  
"James, is this us, or is this the potion working through us? Are we _really…"_ Lily found that she couldn't say it, "… are we really in… in love?"  
  
"Yes!" James said stoutly. But then his face clouded over. "Aren't you? Lily, I'm so sorry! I thought…"  
  
"No! No, I feel… I think I love you. The problem is, is it the potion? Is it just working through us in a different way?" James looked relieved, then surprised, then thoughtful, and then resolved.  
  
"We'll wait the two hours, and see how we feel after. Meanwhile, I guess we should really get on with the plan." He looked slightly regretful but determined nonetheless. Lily admired his strength of will. She envied his self-discipline. It was a quality she wished she had. In fact, there was a lot that was admirable about James…  
  
She shook her head. If she was not careful, they would never put the potion in the Slytherin cups. She looked down at her watch: 8:29. They could sneak down to the kitchen and put the potion into the drinks now. Knowing the house elves, they would already have everything ready for breakfast tomorrow.  
  
"So we'll go down to the kitchens with this now?"  
  
"Yeah, sure. We'll go back to Gryffindor first, though, and get my invisibility cloak. So we don't get caught."  
  
"Right. Good idea." They made their way to the door. They were within four meters of it when Lily's watch ticked over to 8:30. Lily was three metres away when she began to feel dizzy. She turned and looked at James. "Oh no." She saw his brown eyes, and they were the last thing she saw until she began spinning, spinning, spinning…  
  
Lily found herself, and James, on one of the couches in a… compromising position. They were kissing, and James's hands were under her shirt, one on her stomach and one inching higher. He withdrew them immediately, and they both blushed. James's robes were off, revealing a pair of jeans and no shirt, but Lily was fully clothed. Thankfully.  
  
James hastily searched around and found both his robes and shirt. He put them both on, and Lily splashed some water on her face. It didn't do anything to dissipate the blushing. Still, he was red too.  
  
"What was up with that?" he asked, his face, if possible, getting even redder.  
  
"Um… delayed reaction? Maybe the potion takes longer each time to work?"  
  
"Maybe," James said doubtfully.  
  
"Well, we can debate it later. Right now, it's10:30. I want to put the potion in the Slytherins' drinks and go to bed. I'm tired!" Lily said the last bit in a whine, but she was joking. James nodded and smiled, and then they went to get the bags.  
  
"Hey Lily, be careful!" James said, grinning. "Bad luck comes in threes!"  
  
"Not good luck?" Lily muttered very quietly, but she smiled back nonetheless. James didn't appear to have heard what she had said. And then, Lily could see what was going to happen. James was still walking forward, but he was looking back at her. There was still a puddle of potion on the floor. Lily cried out, but James was already slipping. He fell, face first in the potion. Lily called out, not without resignation,  
  
"James! Close your eyes!" She, however, didn't bother to do so. She wasn't wet.  
  
"I already have," he told her, the back of his neck red. Lily smiled grimly.  
  
"I take it we face the consequences again?" Lily asked.  
  
"I guess we don't have a choice. Oh, but make sure you get wet. I mean, covered in potion!" Lily snorted, but James continued. He couldn't really get any redder. "Because otherwise, I'll… love you and you won't… well, feel the same." No, she had been wrong. He could get redder.  
  
"True." Lily said. I'll do that now." Lily closed her eyes, and inched forward on her hands and knees. Suddenly, her hands were wet. "I've got potion on me."  
  
"Right. Open your eyes on the count of three."  
  
"One,"  
  
"Two,"  
  
They said, "Three!" together, and looked at each other. Again, Lily saw those brown eyes. They were becoming familiar. But, again, she didn't find herself spinning or falling.  
  
"Delayed reaction again, do you think?"  
  
"Yes," James replied, "D'you want to sit down and wait?"  
  
"Yes, sure." They made it to the couches and sat. Suddenly Lily had a thought. All the colour drained from her face.  
  
"What is it?" James asked, concern very apparent in his voice.  
  
"I… I just thought of something," Lily told him. It was embarrassing, but she had to say it, or suffer the consequences.  
  
"Yes?" James asked with some trepidation, mixed with curiosity and worry.  
  
"You see…" Lily took a moment to collect her thoughts. Then she continued, "Can you remember the state of… disarray we were in when the last potion wore off? What if it… goes further this time? I doubt being under the influence of a potion will… render either of us sterile for the duration. If anything, it will be the opposite…." Lily's face regained its colour quickly. Damn blushing! She would have to find a spell to prevent that from happening, or at least allow her to stop blushing at will. James's face coloured too. But, to his credit, he treated the situation with seriousness. Lily was beginning to see why he had been made Head Boy. For all his pranks and tricks, when a situation called for it, he was responsible.  
  
"I think… we need… protection." His face was aflame, but he continued seriously. "I mean, I don't… and _you_ certainly don't…" he was floundering, but determined to go on. Like Lily, he took a deep breath, collected his thoughts together, and continued on in a calm, rational voice. "Neither of us wants any of the implications, and we certainly don't want… children. Do you know of any charms or… anything… that could help?"  
  
Lily decided to treat this like a theoretical problem in a class. She couldn't get any more embarrassed, so she should just ignore it. But… talking contraception for _James_! "I don't know about charms or spells… but my predecessor may have something useful on the make-up table. I haven't really looked properly."  
  
They decided to look. Finally they found, tucked away in one of the drawers, a potion bottle. The caption read (much to both Lily's and James's embarrassment),  
  
'Wary of the worry of pregnancy? Scared of the chance of disease? Well, _Worry no More_ will soothe your fears, allowing you to take any relationship to the limit! The best magical contraception there is, with a 0 chance of pregnancy, allowing for 24 hours of complete freedom!'  
  
"Well, there go _all_ our worries." James muttered sarcastically. "We'd better take it, Lily, before the potion kicks in."  
  
"Yeah. You first." James nodded and unstoppered the bottle. Immediately, a small plastic spoon came zooming out, full of a purplish liquid. It flew straight to James's mouth and made a 'choo choo' sound. James opened obediently and the little plastic spoon flew in and emptied itself down his throat.  
  
"Great. It 'soothes our fears,' _and_ it has a sense of humour." James's voice was dry, and sarcastic. Lily couldn't in all honestly blame in. It was her turn. She re-opened the bottle (it had closed itself) and allowed the spoon to deposit its potion on her tongue. Now they were safe.  
  
"Whilst we're already dosed in love potion, do you think we should mop up the rest of it?" Lily asked.  
  
James nodded, and for the next fifteen minutes they busied themselves cleaning up every last trace of love potion from the floor. Then Lily performed an un-breakable charm on all of the bottles, safe-guarding them against any more accidents. She looked at her watch, and decided it had been nearly half an hour.  
  
"When do you think the potion will work?" James asked her.  
  
"I don't know. Do you want to sit down, and talk for a while?"  
  
They did so, carefully avoiding the subject of love potions. And when Lily's watch turned to 11:03, she felt her eyes drawn to James. Then she was falling and spinning, drowning in the brown eyes of James Potter. It was happening again. 


	8. Chapter Eight

**Disclaimer: Most of it's not mine, and if it's yours I apologise for stealing it... unless you're J K Rowling, the theft was completely unintentional. If you are her... um, I'm sorry?**

_Chapter Eight_

When they 'awoke' they were again on the couches, but both fully clothed this time. Lily and James broke apart almost reluctantly, and then, as was becoming custom, blushed. Lily didn't think that she had ever blushed this much in her life before! The time was 1:05.  
  
Lily said, "Maybe now we should put the potion in the Slytherins' drinks?"  
  
"Definitely!" James told her. "So back to my dorm?" "Yeah. And then we'll come back here, get the bottles, and then to the kitchens."  
  
"Right. Let's go." This time, there were no interruptions. In less than ten minutes, Lily and James were safely in the kitchens under the invisibility cloak, with the bottles. There were no house-elves to be seen, but they decided to keep the cloak on just in case. There were the four house tables, directly under the ones in the Great Hall above. And each was set with plates. Milk was already bottled, cutlery was set out, and there were jugs on the tables for the pumpkin juice and water. On further inspection, the jugs were empty, but Lily felt sure that they would be filled in the morning and the house elves wouldn't even look into them. She told James, who agreed.  
  
They spread the potion evenly among all of the pitchers, and still had half a bottle left. They decided to stopper it and keep it in the head girl's bathroom, just in case. And then, at 2:00, they went back to their own dorms. Lily fell asleep immediately. She was tired out, and would need to wake at seven to be in the Great Hall for eight. She definitely wanted to be there to see the Slytherins' reactions.  
  
Lily was staring into James's eyes. She was smiling, as was he, all traces of their previous discomfort lost.  
  
"So we're in love a second time?" he asked her teasingly.  
  
"We never were out of love. It's just that here, we know we have to be in love, and don't have any of the excuses we do normally."  
  
"Meaning when we're awake, we're still in love, but we know we shouldn't be?" "What do you mean, when we're awake?"  
  
"We won't remember this again, except in a dream. Therefore, we're not conscious, not awake." James told her.  
  
"Well, I certainly feel awake! See, if we were asleep, you wouldn't feel this," and Lily kissed him. He felt it. As did she, the pleasant lurch in her stomach, the warmth where they were in contact with each other, the fire in their lips, their mouths. "Well?" she asked, as she withdrew a while later.  
  
"I think I felt it," James said, smiling again.  
  
"You sure?" Lily asked him, playfully.  
  
"Well…" It was all the invitation Lily cared to wait for. Then they were kissing, and somehow James's robes fell to the floor, followed by his shirt. They moved to the sofa, and then… Lily woke up. It was, according to her watch, three in the morning. She had dreamed two hours worth, but it had only taken an hour. She smiled and snuggled further down in her bed. It was worth losing two hours of her life to be able to have these dreams, even if she would only admit it to herself now, in the dead of night. She was warm, and comfortable, and soon, she was back asleep.  
  
They were on the couch. Lily moved in closer to James, and rested her head on his shoulder.  
  
"Three times lucky," James whispered. Lily was sure that he was smiling, but she didn't want to move to look up.  
  
"I know. But… three strikes and you're out. This will probably be the last time. I doubt we'll be this careless again. Accidentally, anyway."  
  
"You're right. Let's make the most of it?"  
  
"In a minute. But first… we got a bit carried away last time," Lily reminded him. Where they might have gone… the thought made her shiver slightly. James stroked her hair, and his voice when he spoke was soothing.  
  
"It won't happen this time. We won't let it. Not… yet." Lily snuggled closer into his shoulder, noting the smell of… Jamesness about him.  
  
"Not for a while," Lily said decisively. "After we're married… or at least, engaged. When we're thinking clearly."  
  
"Yes. Now can we make the most of it?"  
  
"Wouldn't you prefer to sit here and talk for an hour?" Lily found herself asking, maybe in retribution for his teasing in the last two… times. But he didn't even answer her question. He just placed his hand under her chin, and moved her face so he could kiss her. This was James, gentle, warm, kind, and a very good kisser.  
  
When she felt herself fiddling with his buttons, he guided her hands away. And in a break for breath, he whispered in her ear, "Someday, Lily, we'll marry."  
  
And she, in turn, whispered back, "Someday. Someday." They went back to kissing, and were happy. For now.  
  
Lily woke up again, but this time it was half past six. She found herself repeating, over and over in her head, "Someday, someday." It made her feel warm inside, as much as it scared her. Had James proposed marriage? Had she accepted? But then, it had felt so right. Maybe someday they would… Lily cut off in that line of thought straight away. She had been under the influence of the love potion, there was no way those feeling were real. But a quickening of her heartbeat when she thought of James contradicted her thoughts. Okay, so she did like James. Had she liked him before the love potion? Yes, she had. But had she liked him? That was another cauldron of frog guts. She had liked him, and she had enjoyed kissing him as a forfeit. That was answer enough.  
  
Did he like her? When they took the potion the second time. They were both convinced that it didn't work because they were both already in love. Maybe that was the idea of the potion. The potion made two… feel in love, and then it let them lie back and objectively watch their thoughts, feelings, and actions. Some would probably hate themselves for it, others…? Others would be glad the potion had revealed to them their true feelings. These feelings were true; there could be no other words for it. They did love each other. James said… well he hadn't actually said anything. But he had implied, strongly, that he loved her, or thought he loved her. They needed to talk. But first, Lily would research an anti-blushing charm. James could do with one too.  
  
Meanwhile, there were other things to think about. Like getting up and showering, and then going to the Great Hall so she could get good seats. She got (reluctantly) out of bed, and saw that no one else was up yet. Well, that could be remedied. With a very handy spell that Sirius had actually discovered, but Lily had bribed him into telling to her, she shot jets of water at her friends' faces. Mia, Kate, Trinity, and Lisa all woke with a start.  
  
"Lily!"  
  
"I'll get you!"  
  
"You're dead!"  
  
"I was asleep!" Were the general responses, and then a collective,  
  
"AARRGH!"  
  
They ran after her, but Lily just held up a hand and grinned.  
  
"I have something planned for today," she told them, "and you all have to be in the Great Hall in forty-five minutes. Which means we have to shower. I'm going off to the Head Girl bathroom. I'll meet you in the Hall?"  
  
"What have you got planned, Lil?" Kate asked. She was the only one that used the nickname, and she usually did it to aggravate Lily.  
  
"Nothing, if you call me that!" Lily retorted. "You'll all find out later. See you!" With that, Lily grabbed her school robes and left for her bathroom.  
  
She was showered, with dry hair, in half an hour. Lily went back to her dorm to get her school stuff, and then sat on her already-made bed (house elves were so useful) to wait for her friends to finish showering. She did not have to wait long, and soon they all appeared, together. Kate had a load of make-up on, as usual. And, as usual, she looked like she had just stepped from the cover of a fashion magazine.  
  
At Lily's enquiring look she grinned, and said, "I think Jeremy is going to ask me out today. He's really sweet… a Hufflepuff." Lily shook her head in mock disapproval but then smiled.  
  
"So, ready to go?" Lily asked  
  
"Just about. So what's this you've got planned?" Trinity asked.  
  
They walked to the Great Hall trying to make Lily tell them what the surprise was. All that she would tell them was that it was something that she and James had planned and pulled off together. They cajoled and begged and threatened, but Lily refused give them any hints. At last they arrived in the Great Hall. It was quarter to eight, and breakfast began at eight. The food was not yet on the tables, although a few students were there already, the Marauders included.  
  
Lily walked over, and slid into a seat next to James. Sirius was whining.  
  
"Please, James, tell us what you've got planned!"  
  
"No, I won't!" James told him. It seemed he had also told them that something would happen this morning. Sirius rounded on Lily.  
  
"Tell me! You planned it with him!" Trinity slipped into the seat next to him and kissed his cheek. He grinned at her briefly, but turned back and looked at Lily expectantly.  
  
"I'm not telling you! I haven't told them, either." Lily gestured to her friends, who were all now sitting at the table.  
  
"Pleeeeeaaase?"  
  
James and Remus rolled their eyes at the same time, and then laughed. Peter was looking from Lily to James expectantly, his eyes open wide.  
  
"What is it, what is it?" he whined. "Tell me!  
  
"No!" Lily and James said, at the same time. They ignored their friends' pleas for a while, until it was finally eight o'clock, and the food and drink appeared. James looked at Lily, who nodded at him.  
  
"Look over at the Slytherins," James suggested. Everyone did so, with expectancy. James and Lily glanced at each other, both wearing identical evil grins.  
  
"This should be interesting," he said quietly, and then they too looked at the Slytherin table. All of the Slytherins were eating, and three were drinking from their cups. Lily watched expectantly, and the three dropped their cups and turned to Snape together, as if on cue. They immediately stood up, and rushed over to him, and then they were kissing him and fighting each other off. Snape looked very confused, and then four more Slytherins came to join the first three. Four of the seven were boys, and the look on Snape's face was priceless. Lily thought the best part was when Lucius Malfoy came up and elbowed Crabbe and Goyle in the stomachs to get to Snape. Snape, meanwhile, was looking very confused and scared. The Gryffindors were roaring with laughter, the Hufflepuffs smiling, and the Ravenclaws were all smirking. It seemed that nobody liked Snape, and everyone could laugh at seeing the whole of Slytherin house make prats out of themselves.  
  
Soon, all apart from three Slytherins (who had obviously caught on that the drinks were making the others do this), the whole house was fighting for a chance to kiss Snape. Snape himself was trying to escape, but the throng around him was too much. He was looking very frightened. By now, all three of the other houses were practically rolling around laughing, and most of the teachers were shaking with suppressed laughter. Dumbledore stood, at last, and walked over to sort out Slytherin. He couldn't reverse the potion, so at last he had all of the teachers and prefects (bar the Slytherin ones) bind the Slytherins to their chairs. The prefects were reluctant, but tried not to let it show.  
  
When finally all were restrained, Lily and James rejoined their friends at the Gryffindor table. As they were returning, Peter called out,  
  
"Three cheers for James and Lily!" That let the cat out of the bag. The Marauders and Lily's friends silenced him desperately, but it was too late. Professor McGonagall came over and told Lily and James that they had three detentions apiece, and twenty points each from Gryffindor. Everyone agreed that it was worth it, and students from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff came over to congratulate them. All in all, it was a successful prank. Peter left, embarrassed that he had caused them detentions.  
  
Finally, they had to go to classes, but the Slytherins were still restrained in their seats. They would miss out of an hour of classes, because they wouldn't be fit to go until ten o'clock. Snape was allowed to attend classes; the potion had only increased his self-love. The three Slytherins who hadn't drunk decided it was best to fight their bonds, and pretend to be under the potion's influence so as to miss class.  
  
At lunch, Lily went, as usual, to the library, but this time she was looking up a cure for blushing. She at last found a charm that ought to be suitable. It would allow her to blush or not at will, and should last a week if performed correctly. Lily crossed her fingers and uttered the charm, hoping that it would work. She tried to blush, and immediately felt her face heat up. She tried to stop, and it seemed to be working. Satisfied, she memorised the charm, and then set off to find James.  
  
He was also in the library, but not working. Instead, he was reading Quidditch Through the Ages. Again.  
  
Lily drew him aside, and said, "We need to talk."  
  
"You can't break up with me! We're not even going out!" He smiled, and added softly, "yet."  
  
"That's sort of what I want to talk to you about."  
  
"It's nothing bad?"  
  
"I don't think so."  
  
James looked at her searchingly for a moment, and was about to reply when a third year Ravenclaw came up, and told them that they were both wanted by Dumbledore, in is office, now.  
  
"Thank you. We'll go at once," Lily told the girl, who nodded.  
  
"Did you do that thing this morning?" the Ravenclaw asked.  
  
"Yes, that was us," James told her, winking.  
  
The girl blushed bright red and mumbled, "It was really funny," before fleeing. Lily pointed her wand at the girl and muttered the charm after her retreating back. It should help her. Then she, with some forethought, did the same to James. If they were going to talk tonight, the less visible embarrassment the better. James would unconsciously restrain his blushes, without even realising that he was doing so.  
  
He didn't notice Lily cast the charms, but set off immediately to Dumbledore's office. Lily caught up with him, and asked, "Do you think it's because of the love potion?"  
  
"No," James reassured her. He added, "I mean, he'll talk about it, of course, but there will be something else too. I've pulled so many pranks that he's given up talking to me. Besides, he finds them funny, even if he won't admit it."  
  
"I guess," Lily said doubtfully. She was slightly worried, because she hadn't been to Dumbledore's office very often. But then they were there, and Dumbledore was calling out for them to come in. His eyes were twinkling, but otherwise his face was grave. As they seated themselves, he said,  
  
"I have good and bad news, punishments and praise to deal out. Which do you wish to hear first?" His eyes didn't lose their twinkle, and his lip twitched.  
  
At the same time, both Head Students said together, "The bad."  
  
Dumbledore's lips twitched again. "Right," this time, his eyes did lose their twinkle, "We have found out the reason for the snowing in of Hogwarts. First of all, it was Voldemort who was behind it, or rather, one of his followers. This Voldemort, or 'Lord Voldemort' as he calls himself, is a dark wizard of quite a formidable power. Few, of course, know this, but he used to attend Hogwarts, and was once Head Boy. That goes to show that anyone can be corrupted, although I now have reason to believe that he was already corrupt when he received that position. But again, that is beside the point. Voldemort is making a name for himself, inspiring fear in the wizarding population.  
  
"According to what I and others gather, he snowed in the school for a number of reasons. Firstly, he is rather… wary of me. I believe he wished to prevent me from chasing him up immediately. Secondly, he wanted to show the wizarding world that he has the power to trap us all inside of Hogwarts. He believes that it will inspire fear in witches and wizards everywhere, imprisoning the 'great Albus Dumbledore.'" The headmaster's tone was sarcastic here, but Lily had a feeling that this reason was probably true. Dumbledore was indeed a powerful wizard. "Thirdly… the snow-in was tantamount to some rather major… attacks. He went after some of the more well-known wizarding families, trying to convert them to his cause. The ones we know of refused, of course, and were… killed. Do you know the Prewetts? They were… one of the families that was wiped out. I believe there is a Selena Prewett in Ravenclaw, a third year if I am correct. She has only one older sister left; the rest of her family has all been killed."  
  
Lily nodded sombrely, letting all of the information sink slowly in. Another dark wizard was on the rise, a very powerful dark wizard. It was good to know that they were safe while with Dumbledore, but… all of the other families were not. The good, honest, noble wizarding families would be wiped out. Unless the Ministry got their act together, it wouldn't be hard for Voldemort to get rid of the wizarding families one by one. But… looking at Dumbledore's face, Lily could see that he intended to do something. He had recently turned down a position at the ministry to remain headmaster of Hogwarts, and he was still influential in the Ministry of Magic. Professor Dumbledore would do something.  
  
"As to the other… I have a complaint about you. Several, in fact." The twinkle resumed residence in Dumbledore's eyes, and the corners of his mouth twitched again. "One could say that the entire of Slytherin house if out for your blood. Yes, that would be very apt, and the head of Slytherin has already had numerous complaints." Lily tried, with great difficulty, to keep her face straight. She would bet the Slytherins had been complaining!  
  
"However, as I see it, it is the two of you who are responsible for today's… adventure. I presume you both know that the brewing of love potion is forbidden on Hogwarts' grounds?"  
  
James spoke. "I have never brewed a love potion on Hogwarts' grounds, sir," James said, perfectly truthfully.  
  
"I don't doubt that," Dumbledore replied. "You did, however, make use of a love potion, did you not? I believe young Pettigrew incriminated you." James nodded.  
  
"Yes, I did use a love potion," he replied. He left out Lily's part in it. Before she could say anything, however, Dumbledore cut in,  
  
"Didn't Lily have anything to do with it?" James's mouth opened again, and Lily wasn't sure whether or not he would lie. She got there first, though.  
  
"Yes, professor, we both put the potion in the drinks."  
  
"Indeed. I presume the potions have no lasting affects, excluding the two hour… session this morning." It was a question, one that Lily answered.  
  
"Yes, sir, but nothing important. The potion causes the drinkers to not remember what they were doing during the time that they were under its influence," Dumbledore nodded, "but they will remember in a dream the events of those two hours. Other than that, there are no lasting effects, excluding maybe much thought over the drinker's relationship with the object in question."  
  
"I am glad you researched the consequences before you carried out your prank." Lily hung her head guiltily, as did James. If they had been looking, they would have seen Dumbledore lose control of his grin, but they weren't. By the time they did look up, the professor was looking suitably grave again. "I believe you have each received three detentions and twenty points were taken off of Gryffindor?"  
  
Lily nodded, as did James.  
  
"Well, that brings me to my good news. Your detention will take place this Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday evenings. On the Wednesday and the Thursday, you will report to Professor Sprout, where you will occupy your time with her, removing salt from the earth."  
  
"That's good news?" James asked with disbelief. Lily was shocked at his forwardness, but Dumbledore chuckled.  
  
"No, Mr. Potter, that is fitting retribution for your prank this morning. The good news has yet to come." James smiled embarrassedly. He didn't blush… possibly thanks to Lily's charm.  
  
"The good news… if you will permit me to tell it?" Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, and James nodded. Lily had a feeling that he would he blushing right now if it wasn't for her charm. "Your detention on Friday night will be one similar in kind to your detention of last Friday, assisting with an important project, which I would trust few others but yourselves to do. I won't tell you the details now, satisfactory to say you will hear of them this Friday. We can only hope you don't end up… stranded again." He smiled. "As to the praise… it takes skill to brew a love potion, especially without any guidance or assistance. I respect you for understanding and dealing with the… liabilities… responsibly and maturely. Few others would have done so in such a manner." It seemed Dumbledore knew then, of the three slip-ups. Or, at least of one of the slip-ups. Lily was already grateful for her anti-blushing charm.  
  
"Thank you, professor." She murmured.  
  
"Also… I don't believe I gave you credit before for the mean feat of surviving in each other's company, for two nights, without panicking or doing something overly… irresponsible." Lily knew he was referring there to the potion, and once again avoided a blush. She loved this charm! "Doing that deserves some recognition, so I give it to you in the form of house points. Ten each, for both of you. You have earned it. It is unfortunate that they partially cancel out those you lost for your prank earlier, but I do believe that the detentions will make you regret your actions. I have heard that removing salt from the ground is tedious." Here, Dumbledore allowed himself a smile. It was really a quite evil smile, Lily thought. "That is all I have to say. Unless you wish to ask anything, you are free to go."  
  
"No, professor, thank you." James said. Lily shook her head, and she too thanked Dumbledore. Then they both left.  
  
"That gave me… things to think about," James told her.  
  
"Me too. Come on, we're nearly late for class." It was true, and they both had to rush to history of magic.  
  
Later on, that evening, Lily sat in the common room. She was with her friends and James's, and the group was just talking. Remus had decided to go to bed. The other were yawning, but showing no signs of wanting to go off just yet. James caught Lily's eye. It was apparent he remembered her wish to talk, and that he wanted her friends to go. He looked at Lily pointedly, and then said,  
  
"Well, I'm tired. I don't know about you guys, but I'm off to bed."  
  
The boys all agreed, and Lily said,  
  
"I think I'll stay down here and read for a bit. Don't let me delay you, I'll come up later." The last part was directed at the others. They all accepted it, but Mia gave her a funny look, and the girls went up the stairs. Lily really did read her book, and waited for James to come back down. After half an hour, she was beginning to wonder if he really was going to come back, when she felt something cold on the back of her neck. She whirled, and saw James taking off his invisibility cloak.  
  
"Oh, were my fingers cold?" he asked innocently. Lily glared with mock ferocity.  
  
"Oh ha ha. I was beginning to wonder if you were going to show up."  
  
"No, I knew you wanted to talk, and I daren't disobey your wishes!" He grinned, and then continued, "Actually, I think we need to talk, too."  
  
"Good. Do you want to sit?" James sat.  
  
"Right. Now, about last night…"


	9. Chapter Nine

**A/N This chapter is short, mainly because I didn't want to spoil a perfectly good long chapter with fluff, so I wrote a short fluffy one. Next chapter I'll get back into the plot (yes, there's a plot). Oh, and Chloë, this is to appease you. See, I _can_ write romance when I try hard enough! Or… something.**

**Disclaimer: Most of it's not mine, and if it's yours I apologise for stealing it... unless you're J K Rowling, the theft was completely unintentional. If you are her... um, I'm sorry?******

_Chapter Nine _

"I think we need to talk about what happened before we came under the influence of the potion the second time. When there was a delayed reaction and we thought…"

"Yeah, I know," Lily said hastily. Thank God for that charm! "So what really happened, d'you think?"

"One idea is that the potion _was _working through us then. Another is that the reaction was simply delayed, and we assumed that the potion was confirming our love. Sorry, we know that the reaction _was_ delayed, but we assumed that it was confirming our love." James said this evenly and rationally, and Lily was grateful for that. It was somehow easier to deal with when they spoke in objective voices and avoided eye contact, and Lily had a feeling that she would be spilling her soul pretty soon. How would James react?

"Which do you think?" Lily asked him.

"I think that the potion delays its reaction each time," James told her, "The first time, it works immediately. The second time, it kicks in after twenty minutes, and the third time at thirty minutes. Maybe there's a pattern, maybe it's just random. That's what I think. It is possible that when the potion did not appear to be working, we rationalised it by assuming that it was because we were already in love."

"That's a possibility," Lily replied, and her face fell despite herself. Oh yes, it was a valid possibility. She looked down, and therefore didn't see James's face as he looked at her. He could, of course, see her disappointment, and he was grinning from ear to ear.

_So that isn't what she thinks! _he thought happily._ It isn't what she wants me to think! Thank God! That means I might have a chance… but what if she just…? No, she's definitely upset! I can tell her that I like her! And she feels the same about me! Or does she? She should, and she did seem to before the potion kicked in the second time. She _was_ reluctant to stop kissing me! Wasn't she? _James shook his head. _I guess there's really only one way to find out._

So he said gently, removing his grin with difficulty, "Lily, it's a possibility. That doesn't mean I believe it. Actually, I don't."

"So what do you believe?" Lily asked, finally daring to raise her face and look him in the eyes. Here, he took a deep breath. Telling of your feelings is always hard, but when you're telling feelings of affection to the object of your affections it's doubly so. Especially when there is a chance that you might be rejected.

James took a deep breath and said, "I think that the forfeit and the first potion opened our awareness. We became more conscious of each other, and as for myself, I became more attracted to you. You're funny, clever, and sweet - at least, after we made up, not to mention compassionate, caring." _Don't say 'hot,' don't say 'hot,'_ he mentally told himself. "You're responsible, in fact, the only bad trait you seem to have is a insulting tongue… and even that's a good trait, when it's not directed at me!" He chanced a bit of humour, hoping that she'd take it well. Lily smiled, and James gave a happy sigh of relief. _So far so good_. "I think the delayed reaction of the potion gave us a chance to fully realise our true feelings for each other, and I think… I _know_… I like you a lot."

Through his whole speech, Lily had been looking into his eyes. Except for his insulting tongue comment, she had kept a carefully neutral face the entire time. She looked at him piercingly a bit longer, and then seemed to decide that he was speaking the truth. Her eyes lit up, and she grinned, just as he had when he had seen her look down.

"As for me," Lily said softly, and then stopped and looked down.

"Yes?" James asked tentatively. _Maybe, just maybe…._ If he could see her eyes, he would have seen them light up with mischief. As it was, he was completely unprepared for the sudden kiss she gave him. That didn't, however, stop him from enjoying it.

What did break them apart was the sound of cheering coming from the stairs. They sprang back instantly, and both blushed quickly before they wished it off.

"About time!" Sirius and Trinity chorused, and then grinned at each other.

"How long have you hated each other? Seven years?' Kate asked. She was smiling too.

"How long have you lot been there?" Lily asked suspiciously. The group came down from the stairs, and Sirius explained.

"No offence, James, Lily, but that was the _oldest _trick in the book. First, you exchange glances, and then James says, _very _artificially if I might add, that he's tired and is going to bed, and you _casually_ say that you'll stay up for a bit, never mind that whenever you want to read late you do it in bed by the light of your wand. Honestly, could it be more obvious?" Remus shook his head, and laughed at them.

"So how long have you been there?" James asked. He couldn't really be angry with them, but he was annoyed. They had interrupted a very promising session with Lily.

"_We_ came down once you had snuck down in your cloak. The girls came down about five minutes later," Remus told him. "We didn't actually hear what you were saying, unfortunately, but when you started kissing we decided to let you know we were here."

"Oh, thank you Sirius!" James said. Lily felt the sarcasm was deserved.

Unfortunately, the arrival of the friends caused a lot of teasing, and it meant that Lily and James couldn't finish what they had started… at least, not in the common room. It was late, but neither was tired. They were exhilarated with these new revelations, and they were teenagers. Who can expect a seventeen year old to voluntarily go to bed early?

At last, in the middle of all the teasing and questioning ("So what did you _really_ get up to in that cabin?" and "How long has this been going on?") James jumped to his feet.

"I've had it! All of you, out! Go back to bed! I want to talk to Lily!"

"Ah… but is talking _all_ he wants-" Sirius began, but Lily cut him off with a pillow chucked in his face.

"C'mon James, let's go."

They ran out of the portrait hole and put on the cloak once they were outside it.

"Where are we going?" James whispered.

"We'll go to my bathroom. But first, we'll wait for the others to follow."

Sure enough, out burst seven teenagers from the portrait hole. They looked around, swore, and then returned to the common room.

"Now we'll go," Lily told James quietly. The only answer she got was a kiss on the cheek, and she grinned to herself. She couldn't, of course, see James under the cloak, but she thought he was smiling too.

They arrived at the Head Girl bathroom, and Lily once again made James cover his ears before uttering the password.

"Please tell me what it is!" James whined.

"I already told you, it's offensive! Besides, I don't want you coming in here whenever you feel like it, what if I was taking a bath?"

"Would that be such a bad thing?" James grinned as he said it, and Lily whacked him on the head.

"Yes!" James just grinned at her, rubbing his head in mock pain.

"So… where were we?" he asked, his grin firmly in place.

"If you're going to be so… smug, we can go back to bed!" Lily told him. He opened his mouth to say something, his grin widening. Lily cut in before he could say the obvious, "Separately!".

"Okay, okay, I'll behave."

"Good," Lily told him primly. And then completely contrasted her words with a kiss.

"About time!" James told her as they came up for breath, but he was kissing her again before she could retort. After a while, she didn't want to. They were, after all, her sentiments too.

**A/N Wow, my writing style changed rather suddenly in this chapter, don't you think? A little note that I found amusing: In the old version of this chapter I'd written "Who can expect a seventeen year old to voluntarily go to bed early when there are no exams the next day?" I'm seventeen in under two weeks and it's become a marked trend to go to bed much later when I have exams. That is, three instead of one. I'm sure you're all fascinated… right, I'll shut up. Please review!**


	10. Chapter Ten

**A/N I've stolen another creature from _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_, and all the specifics in here not found in that back are from my own imagination, so if there's something glaringly inaccurate, I apologise. The same goes for muggle clothing at the time… I'm afraid I'm not nearly dedicated enough to research clothing from Lily and James's time, so you'll either have to bear with me or let me know what's wrong so I can change it. Thanks for reading!**

**Disclaimer: Most of it's not mine, and if it's yours I apologise for stealing it... unless you're J K Rowling, the theft was completely unintentional. If you are her... um, I'm sorry?**

_Chapter Ten_

Lily and James made their relationship known. It wasn't as if they had a choice, what with Sirius shouting it to the world. There were varied reactions. James's fan club just glared at Lily, and Lily's glared at James. That was about as far as that went; neither group was stupid enough to take on the strongest student witch and wizard in the school. The teachers, however, reacted differently. McGonagall, when she heard the news, laughed. When she saw James's arm around Lily, she stopped in the middle of the hallway, her books dropped to the floor, and she stood gaping. It was very amusing, but Lily nonetheless helped her pick up her books. Professor Dumbledore just smiled, and Filch glared more than ever. Hagrid winked suggestively at the two, making Lily again thankful for her charm.

On Tuesday, the seventh years had Herbology, where they learned of the importance of removing the salt from the ground. Then they began to do so. It was tedious and time-consuming. The actual process involved a charm directed at the earth, which would remove 99 of all the salt within one metre of its range. It meant that the frozen soil had to be sorted into a grid pattern of circles with a metre radius, and the circles _and _the area between them had to be put under the charm. Wednesday night and Thursday night detentions were just two hours of salt removing, and were, needless to say, very boring. But by then, most of the salt was removed, and they ought to have only one more lesson on removing the salt before they could go back to normal classes.

Classes on Friday were normal, except Lily and James were on edge all day, wondering what their detention would be about. Dumbledore had said that it would be similar in type to their last detention, but would they be going into the forest again? Of course, last time had not been wasted (the love potion had been a huge success). What would happen this time?

They came to Filch's office at ten to eight, ten minutes early, as usual. Filch arrived five minutes later.

"So, it's the famous couple." Filch said sourly. "Well, not so famous that you can't get detentions! Such a pity the headmaster's such a liberal… a good beating always got the message through." He smiled nastily. "But come. It's back into the Forbidden Forest for you." Filch's face was angry for the most part, but at his last sentence he smiled maliciously.

"Oh, I'm beginning to get used to it by now," James said airily.

"Why yes, it's becoming quite welcoming!" Lily said. They smiled at each other, and Filch glared at them. He seemed to want to give them another detention, but couldn't find a valid pretext in their words, so he settled for stomping off ahead. Lily and James hurried after him; they _could_ get detentions for lagging.

Once more, Filch handed them over to Hagrid. Hagrid smiled at them, and Filch scowled at them all.

"They're not here to have fun, you remember that, Hagrid!" was his last threat before he stomped back to the castle. They laughed when he was out of sight, but not, to judge by the way his back stiffened and his pace increased, earshot.

"Well, I see ye're in trouble again. If it's fer yer love potion, t'was worth 't! Your pranks'll go down in Hogwarts history!"

"It was nothing," James said with fake modesty, bowing elaborately. Lily rolled her eyes and Hagrid grinned.

"I suppose ye want to hear of yer detention, then?" Hagrid asked them.

"Yes!" the two said together.

"Again, ye'll be collectin' animal substance, this time from an insect. S'called a glumbumble, have ye heard of it?"

Lily had, but decided to let Hagrid explain anyway. She would undoubtedly learn something.

"Right. Well, this creature's small, but big for an insect. It's about the size of yer closed fist," here he nodded to Lily, who had the smallest hands of the three, "an' it's grey." Lily, meanwhile, made a fist and was looking at it. Hagrid smiled, and it was James's turn to roll his eyes and grin.

"Yeah, that's it," Hagrid said to Lily, before continuing, "So, where was I? Oh, yeah, grey. Right. It eats nettles and suchlike, and nests in dark and cool places. Hollow trees 'd be a good place to look, as well as caves. They'll also hide in rabbit warrens and snake holes, if the owner isn't there. Sometimes the things will take over bees' nests too, spoilin' the honey, but it makes fer a good nest. So, o' course, glumbumbles are immune to bee stings, and a lot of the more acidic substances other animals use for protection. Jus' fer extra information, magical wasps are fatal to glumbumbles, so don't bother lookin' for 'em alive in areas with wasps in it. So, o' course, wizards mixed together science with magic, and produced a spell to help remove the treacle.

"Oh, I'm getting ahead of m'self here. The glumbumble makes, well, according to your book, it's a 'melancholy inducing treacle.' It'll be useful to Madame Pomfrey to calm hysterical students and suchlike. So, you'll need to catch the glumbumble. It's hard to spot, but it doesn't have any poisonous defences or anything. Now, once ye've found t' insect, ye'll catch it and put it in a glass box. Say the charm 'Alkalii.' Make sure ye pronounce the second 'i,' tha's very important. Then, the glumbumble should lead ye to where it's hidin' its treacle. Ye can then release it, an' it shouldn't bother you, not once ye've used the alkalii charm on it. Use magic to collect the treacle, and put it in the glass box. Then you're done. Don' touch the treacle whatever ye do, or ye might find yerself feeling suicidal. If one of ye does touch it, t'other one has to know, ok? It's very important. One insect's treacle should be enough for tonight, but it's the finding that'll take time.

"Ye might only be out an hour, but ye'll probably be out fer quite a while. The headmaster wants ye to get the treacle, so ye've got all weekend. If ye start out in the direction of the cabin you stayed in last time, and search in that area, ye can stay there overnight if ye need to. So, any questions?"

Neither Lily nor James had a question, so they left the hut. When they saw Hagrid wasn't following them, however, they had a lot of questions.

"You're not coming?"

"How are we supposed to do it without you?"

"If you're not coming, where do we get the glass box?"

Hagrid grinned at them. "I thought ye hadn't any questions?" he asked teasingly. Lily rolled her eyes. She felt like sticking out her tongue, but restrained herself.

"Why aren't you coming, Hagrid?" she repeated.

"I've got matters to attend to, I'm afraid. Business fer Dumbledore. And," Here he leaned down and winked at Lily, "I hear ye two are a couple. I also hear that th'eadmaster was very pleased when he heard ye two 'd patched up yer diff'rences. Fer bonding, p'raps?"

"Hagrid!" James said exasperatedly. "Come on!"

Lily was blushing furiously, having forgotten her ability to make the blush disappear. Rather, she felt like disappearing herself. She retorted sharply, "Very funny! Do you expect us to collect it without you?"

"S'matter of fact, yes. You'll be 'right, jus' search out caves an' whatnot. Ye'll sooner or later come across one 'f the glumbumbles, and even if ye don't, go to the cabin, and ye can search again. Oh, I didn't tell ye, th' insects 'r nocturnal, so once ye get t' dawn, find the cabin and settle down fer th' day. There's no point searchin' in daylight, ye won' find them. Got it?"

"Yes," James said, "but where do we get the glass box from?"

"Ye're the master o' transfiguration aren't ye? Work it out!" Hagrid grinned at them, and then looked at his watch. "Well, I've got t' be goin'. Good luck!"

With that, Hagrid strode quickly up to the castle. James and Lily stared after him.

"I guess that's it then." Lily said. "Can you transfigure a box now? From grass or something?"

James sighed exaggeratedly. "You can't just transfigure anything from anything! You have to get something similar in shape or principle. For example, I'd have to have a box or a container of some sort."

"Oh. Hmm…" Lily stood, thinking, trying to come up with something that might be suitable.

James stood too, undecided. Finally, he asked, "Do you have any ideas?"

Lily hadn't, but as soon as she opened her mouth to say so, she remembered the jewellery box Kate had been going to give her for her birthday. She had accidentally found it, though, so Kate gave it to Lily early. "Yes, actually, would a jewellery box do?"

"Should be fine! If it's empty."

"Yes, it is. Kate gave it to me for my birthday."

"But you said your birthday was the 25th of November!"

"It still is… next week. But Kate gave me her present early, because I found it and thought it was her's."

"Right. Can you summon it?"

"Sure." Lily drew out her wand, and almost lazily performed the summoning charm. Her jewellery box came floating down with a grace that James both admired and envied. His charms were adequate, at best.

Lily caught the box and handed it to James, who accepted it with a murmur of thanks. He too drew out his wand, and performed the transfiguring spell. Soon, he was holding a flawless glass box. It was Lily's turn to be envious.

"Are we ready to go?" James asked.

"I guess. _Lumos,_" Lily's wand lit up, and she continued, "We'll take the path to the cabin, and search anything we find on the way. If we can't find anything by the time we get there, we'll search the clearing until dawn."

"Sure. Let's go." They set off, both their wands alight.

Lily and James investigated two hollow trees, three snake-holes, and one bees' nest, with no luck, before they got to the cabin. By that time, it was midnight. Lily was beginning to feel tired, and James was yawning quite a lot, but the two nevertheless continued to search for glumbumbles. They walked together around the clearing, and investigated another three fallen trees and one more snake hole. None of them showed a glumbumble, and the times was getting on to two a.m. Lily was asleep on her feet, and finally told James so.

"Maybe we should go to the cabin, and try again tomorrow night?" He suggested.

"Yeah, please," Lily said gratefully. So they went to the cabin, which was just as they had left it. They both went without qualms to the bedroom section, and both lay down next to each other on the bed. They forgot to climb under the covers, both too tired. Within minutes, they were asleep.

Lily woke up and saw, to her surprise, that it was noon. There was an empty space in the bed next to her, so James had evidently already got up. But he hadn't been up for long, because just as Lily was getting out of bed, the closet door opened and he emerged with wet hair, a towel around his middle. He grinned at her, and then got out fresh school robes from the closet.

"Um, James?"

"Yeah?"

"We are going to search the clearing today, aren't we? You know, to see if we can find any places likely to be hiding glumbumbles?"

"Well, that's what I was thinking…"

Lily smiled at him. "Maybe black robes aren't such a good idea, then? Jeans and a t-shirt might be more practical."

"You're right. I'll get changed, and then the bathroom's all yours."

"Thanks!" James grinned and took out jeans and a white shirt. Then he went into the closet to change. He emerged, and Lily took her turn showering and changing into a t-shirt and another pair of jeans. When she came out, though, it was cold enough to make her change her mind and put on a long-sleeved shirt.

She came out to find James had already set breakfast. They ate, and then went out to explore the area around the clearing for possible glumbumble nests. But there was a problem. The door wouldn't open.

**A/N Gah. I don't like this chapter. It's far too predictable and irritating, but I can't change it without completely rewriting the next five chapters. Tell me what you think, anyway.**


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Disclaimer: Most of it's not mine, and if it's yours I apologise for stealing it... unless you're J K Rowling, the theft was completely unintentional. If you are her... um, I'm sorry?**

**A/N Sorry for the delay in posting. Life's suddenly become busy. Enjoy the chapter.**

_Chapter Eleven___

Lily tried pulling it. James pulled it. They pulled together. Lily tried the 'alohomora' charm. They both tried the charm together. They couldn't force the door, because it opened on the inside. The windows wouldn't open. They glass wouldn't smash. They couldn't climb up the chimney. Lily even tried unscrewing the hinges and removing the door, the solution that often worked in muggle books. It didn't. They tried the window in the bedroom… same problem. The door would not open. Finally, they collapsed, tired, onto the big floor cushions they had made use of last time.

"Do you get the feeling that this isn't a coincidence?" James asked.

"Somebody is up to something. Somebody keeps trapping us in here together!"

"Should we talk to Dumbledore?"

"Yes. Let's call him immediately!"

From the direction of the fireplace, came a voice, in more of a hiss than a whisper. "Call _who_ exactly?"

James and Lily both whirled immediately, and stood. There was a face in the fire. Not a head, a face. A flame outline on the fire itself, red fire outlined the face and ears, orange and yellow gave it substance and three dimensions, and the eyes were blue flame.

"Who _are_ you?" Lily and James both asked at the same time. In any other situation, it would have been funny. But there was something about this face in the fire, something deadly. It radiated evil. Lily and James knew it instinctively, and felt immediately vulnerable. Whether it was their own instinct, or feelings inspired by the face, neither knew, but they did know, with an absolute certainty, that they could do nothing against this being. They also knew that if they tried, they would die.

James gripped Lily's hand tightly, so they wouldn't be separated, just in case. They were Hogwarts's Head Boy and Girl, and each had to be strong, or, lacking real strength, put on a show of strength. They both did so, regardless of their inner fear. Apparent uncertainty and fear could easily mean death. Appear intimidating, and half the battle was won. They just hoped the other half of the battle wouldn't prove too strong.

"You won't be calling!" The hiss was certainly coming from the face, but the lips weren't moving, "You will stay here until I see fit! I see everything… your deaths are coming if you don't pay attention!" With that, the lips on the face rose in a cruel smile, and suddenly the fire was just a normal fire.

Lily allowed herself to relax slowly. James was sitting, staring at the fire where the face had been only moments before. Lily leaned over to him, and whispered in his ear.

"I don't know if that thing can hear us, but let's move to the bedroom where we can talk better," James nodded, and they moved into the bedroom.

It was cold, and they got in the bed, under the covers to keep warm. Lying close, but not actually touching, they talked things over.

"Was that Voldemort, do you think?" Lily asked.

"It's possible. Or maybe another dark wizard… there's another uprising, I know it. Dumbledore knows it too, bad times are ahead. It sound like some kind of lame prophecy, I know, but… I think we're in danger."

Lily didn't say her mental, _Yeah, well, no shit_ aloud. Instead she said, "The question is, _why_? Why would _anyone_ want to lock the Head Boy and Girl of Hogwarts into a cabin? Twice? It makes no sense."

"It's got to make sense. There's logic behind everything, _especially_ things that seem illogical. Ever read Sherlock Holmes?"

"Yes, a while ago… why?"

"His saying was, eliminate the impossible, and whatever is left, however improbable, is the truth. Or something like that."

"You're saying that we go through figuring out everything that _didn't_ happen?"

"No. What I'm saying is, he's got the beginnings of an idea… but it isn't practical. We'd be here all day saying what _didn't_ happen, so let's go through what did. Even if it's unlikely, if it's possible, keep it."

"Okay," Lily was unsure, but it wasn't like they had any other options. Unless… "Let's try to call in on Dumbledore by the fire, anyway. Just to see."

"We'll do that. Then we can do lists… who could have done it, why they would have done it, etc."

"Sure."

They got the relevant powder from the fire, but couldn't even get through to Hogwarts. The cabin wasn't connected to the floo network, or they would have been able to escape the first time really easily. So they set about making a list, everyone who could have done it, why they had, and how they had, back in the bedroom, sitting on the bed. It looked like this:

· Snape: He hates both of us… don't know how he could have done it

· Malfoy: He hates us too, and his Dad has lots of money

· Voldemort: He's tried it once before, and he's got lots of power… but why?

· Marauders: As a practical joke… again, no idea how

· Lily's Friends: Again, practical joke, again, don't know how

"So… does that get us anywhere?" James asked.

"Not really," Lily admitted. "Who do you think probably did it?"

"Voldemort," James said promptly.

"It could be," Lily said grimly. Then she added, "You know they're starting to call him 'You-know-who?' They're afraid to say his name."

"It's another mark that he's gaining power. I wonder how far he'll get before he's stopped."

"I don't know, but… that it's him is likely. But _why_? Why does he keep locking us together in here?" Lily asked. And suddenly, James had a horrible idea.

"I think… oh God…" His face drained of colour. It scared Lily more than anything had in a long time, more even than the face in the fire.

"What is it?" She asked hurriedly.

"I just… I just thought… oh no… he _can't_…"

He looked shocked and anguished, but there was determination in his movements when he pried off the arm she had put around him.

"Lily, we can't."

"We can't what?" She was worried now, worried and upset. "What can't we do?"

James took a breath, and resisted an urge to comfort her. "I think… I think I know who and why." Lily wondered what it could be that had frightened him so much. Something was definitely wrong.

"It's suspicious, isn't it, that both times we're alone, in a secluded place, we're locked together for a long time? The first time… we decided we liked each other. This is the second," James looked away from her face, from her altogether, and looked down at his hands, fiddling in his lap. "I think it was Voldemort. And I think… he's out to set us up."

James's face was grave, and it scared Lily even more.

"Set us up? For a crime, or something?" She asked, confused.

"No. Not like that. Get us together. Make us fall in love. Get us to…"

"I get it," Lily interrupted. She could feel a hysterical laugh bubbling up, and tried to suppress it. _Voldemort as a matchmaker!_ Then the implications of that thought sunk in. "No!" She refused to believe it. She _would not_ believe it. "Absolutely not! He _can't_! Why would he even want to? There would be no point!" Because she suddenly saw where James's thoughts were heading.

"Lily… it's a possibility. And… when we next talk to Dumbledore… we have to ask him-"

"About what?" Lily asked, "What do we ask him about? Whether we should continue the way we are? No! I'm not having the headmaster tell us… tell us…"

She began to cry. Not crying described in every romantic fairytale the world wide, but shaking with sobs, violently angry.

It was too much for James. He lost his control, and immediately hugged her and held her, whispering garbled comforting words. But this time, Lily shook him off. Hurt, surprised, and not a little upset, James waited to see what she would say.

Lily composed herself rapidly and said, with a slight quaver in her voice, "James… maybe you're right. It might be a… a… 'plot.' Can we… think about this rationally?" She didn't want to. All she wanted to do was curl up in her bed at Hogwarts and cry her eyes out. Preferably with James. Again, she mentally reminded herself that she was nearly eighteen, and Head Girl, and she shouldn't be crying. "This is the second time we've been locked up here together."

"Yes."

"And each time we reached another stage in our relationship."

"Yes."

"And you're thinking that us getting together has something to do with him?"

"Yes."

"WILL YOU STOP SAYING YES!" Lily shouted.

"Ye- sorry," James said. He looked alarmed.

"Sorry, it just… never mind. Do you think he wants us to… get together?"

James nodded his head. Lily laughed. It was an improvement on the atmosphere, but not by much.

"So, we… separate?" Lily's voice started out strongly, but ended up in a whisper. It was too much. It was all just too much. Lily was so upset that she felt sick. Maybe not upset, precisely, it was almost like grief. It was a feeling she couldn't place, like despair, but more so. There was also something else… it was a feeling as if… something was ultimately wrong. Was she just kidding herself? Was she attempting to justify her selfish desire to stay with James? Then again, why was it selfish anyway? Maybe it really _was _wrong, splitting up with James just because she had a feeling that a megalomaniac wizard was matchmaking. It was ridiculous.

But Lily shook her head in defiance to her feelings. She was only seventeen; the wrongness would be purely psychological. Meanwhile, James was looking just as crushed as she felt. And then it was Lily's turn to have a revelation. With a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, she had to voice the thought that came to her mind.

"James," she started tremulously.

"Yes?" He forced a smile, but his eyes frightened Lily. They were so full of despair… indeed, if he felt at all like she did, they really were the windows to his soul.

"What if… what if Voldemort is…" Lily took a deep breath, and started again. "In the muggle world, there's a concept, called reverse psychology. It's when… you know when you tell Sirius not to eat something, because it tastes really horrible, and of course he'll go and eat it anyway? Wait, no, that's a bad example. Sirius would eat it no matter what you said." James smiled briefly, and their eyes met for a second before Lily continued. "Take… take Peter, for example. You tell him not to… oh, not to read a specific magazine article. He'll do it, either out of curiosity or of spite, but he will do it. Maybe that's what Voldemort's doing. He knows that if he seemingly sets us up, we'll realise it, being Head Students and all. So it's reverse, reverse psychology. Get it?"

"Kind of…" James said. "It's like… if he threatens us to not get together, we'll do it, because that's what he wants. If he tries to make it seem like he _wants_ us to get together, then maybe we won't get together, on purpose."

"Yeah, that's about it!" Lily said. Her spirits had lifted, and James grinned broadly for a minute at the prospect of not having to end their relationship. Then his face clouded over. "Is there something else?" Lily asked with concern.

"Yeah, well, two things, actually. Firstly… what if it's reverse, reverse, reverse psychology? As in, he knows we'll figure it out, so he sets us up, so we think he doesn't want us together, when he really does."

"That's possible," Lily said doubtfully, "In either case, we'll have to talk to Dumbledore before we decide anything. Oh, and… it'll probably be embarrassing."

"Embarrassing is better than dangerous!" James said emphatically, and Lily smiled, inclined to agree.

"Was there a second thing?" Lily asked a moment later.

"Um… yeah. You know… actually, maybe danger is worse than embarrassment?"

"What, the danger you'll get from me if you don't tell, as opposed to the embarrassment you'll feel if you do?" Lily asked. She was joking… but it hit near the mark.

"Yeah, something like that. Actually," he cleared his throat, "If Voldemort doesn't want us together, it's probably for a good reason. There are a few possibilities… one… okay, I know I'm being a little full of myself here, but we're pretty strong magically, and maybe he thinks we'd be too powerful as a team? Then, there's marriage… you know what 'marital bliss' can do for the power of a witch or wizard."

"Uh… no, actually."

"Sorry, I keep forgetting you're muggle-born. It's when you're tied, bonded by love and marriage, your magic powers are generally amplified. Don't ask me to explain it, I can't, and everyone has a different theory as to why."

"Oh, right, I think I get it. Any other… ideas?" Lily privately knew there had to be a third; the theories already brought out into the open hadn't embarrassed him enough to make him as reluctant to speak as he had seemed to be.

"Well… there's also the possibility of… you know… children," And here James didn't blush. It was strange, he was all fidgety, and wouldn't meet her eye, but because of the charm, he wasn't blushing. Lily decided to view it academically and theoretically, as if it had nothing to do with her.

"Hmm… not to sound big-headed, but Dumbledore has said we're very powerful. I guess if we were to… have a child, he or she might have the best of both powers. And Voldemort is still on the rise, this child might come of age at the peak of his power. A bit far-fetched, perhaps, but possible."

"Yes," James said, slightly downcast. "And if Voldemort has a divinator, well, he or she could have foreseen something."

"It's a possibility. We need to talk to Dumbledore. Bloody hell I _hate _divination!"

"Mm. Drop it if we get out of here," James said.

"Yeah, _if_. But meanwhile… let's not change anything. Keep it as it was, yeah? With luck, Hagrid or someone should come in search soon. And… well, this whole relationship thing. Nobody knows what's going on in his weird mind. Let's just keep it as it was."

James and Lily spent the rest of the day worrying. They tried playing board games, playing cards, and reading, but nothing seemed to work. Eventually, they returned back to the main room to eat. They were just finishing their food, salad for Lily and another pizza for James, when again the face appeared in the fire.

It hissed, in a voice low and deadly, "Come here!"

Lily and James exchanged glances, and then came closer to the fire, gripping hands once more. The knelt, in a position to see the face well, but able to stand quickly if it looked like danger.

"Good… we're getting somewhere." The voice was soft, deadly, but strangely compelling. James realised it the same time Lily did.

"Close your eyes!" Lily said, as James said,

"Don't look at the face!"

They both grinned at each other for a millisecond, before shutting their eyes tightly.

"Open your eyes!" The voice called, demanding and ugly, but it was no longer compelling. And then, Lily suddenly realised.

"Get into the bedroom! Quickly! I think I've got it!"

They both turned, and opened their eyes as they were facing away from the fireplace. Then they ran for the bedroom, James opened the door, and they both went in. Lily slammed the door after her, and they quickly sat on the bed.

"What is it?" James asked, finally letting go of Lily's hand. She leaned over, to whisper in his ear.

"I think there's a listening spell on both the rooms in here. Let's take care of that first, then I'll tell you the rest."

"Okay. It's probably a charm… you try to cancel it out first, and then…"

"Hmm…" Lily said, thinking. A spell tuned into the room would be hard to cancel. A spell on themselves would be relatively easy to cancel, but Lily suspected that any dark wizard wouldn't have taken chances. So she cancelled any spell that might be on them, praying it would work. Then she created a shield of concealment, sight and sound, around the bed they were sitting on, just in case there were lip-reading wizards or witches. Paranoia was a good thing in dangerous situations.

"That should do it, I think." Lily told James.

"Okay… what did you do?"

Lily told him, and then began to tell him of what she thought was going on. "But I think I've got it. I reckon it's a dark wizard, probably this Voldemort, and he wants us together. Whether it's psychology, I don't know, but that's the not the point, I know _how_ he did it. He locked the door somehow, and then he put a sound spell on the room, so no sound from outside could get in. He put a spell on the fire, too, an illusion of plain fire, warmth if the fire was to go out, and in some cases of the face. I expect we did get in contact with Dumbledore, but we couldn't see or hear him. What do you think?"

James nodded enthusiastically. "Yes! That's it! It's harder to actually block spells than it is to craft illusions, yeah, I think that's it! So what do we do?"

"I think we should create a fire here, in this room, and call Dumbledore. We'll get… oh, a disposable fireplace or something, and make a fire on the bed here. Yes?"

"Yes. Shall we get the stuff now?"

"Yeah. But cover your ears and don't look at the fireplace. Let's go."

They grabbed hands again, and got off the bed. The second they were off, blackness enveloped them. Lily pulled James back onto the bed.

"He's put either a darkness spell or an illusion of darkness on this room. Bloody hell… we'll have to shield this entire cabin from outside influences! We're not that strong!"

"Isn't there anything easier?"

"Not that I can think of."

"Me either. It's time to improvise. Transfiguration will have to do."

James concentrated, and then got to work. Half an hour later, with a lot of combined effort, they had a fire going in the middle of the bed, with Dumbledore's head in the middle of it.

Lily had charmed the top blanket to make it fireproof. Then, from one of the pillowcases, they had torn strips of cloth. Four of these were placed in the shape of a square. Lily's hair clips were strengthened and then pushed in the corners of the fabric square, to fasten the four together. Two larger pieces of cloth were attached to each side of the square, to form flaps that opened. Then James transfigured it, not without difficulty, into a wooden frame, doors that opened on a hinge. It was very good work, and Lily went from being envious of his Transfiguration talent to being awed. His work was amazing; she would have been able to manage wood, perhaps, but not of the strength, and clips to hinges would have been nearly impossible for anyone but Professor McGonagall!

Next, Lily and James gripped hands, and a spell combining their power reserves was put into place. It would make the next spell a lot easier. Between them, they used their knowledge of magic theory, an extra class taught only to the brightest of the Seventh years, to construct a spell that would allow the frame in front of them to act as a 'portal' to the cupboard in the other room.

Then the pillow itself, minus a pillowcase, was placed on the fireproof blanket, and set on fire. They successfully got powder from the cupboard (via the 'portal), and called Dumbledore into the fire.

Twenty minutes of discussion later, both sides had been updated. Dumbledore knew of all of Lily and James's suspicions, and he had told Lily that her illusion idea was right. They had got through to Dumbledore, but they hadn't known it. He also told them that some teachers had come to the cabin, and found out that magical moss was covering the entire front of the cabin. Professor Sprout was arriving as they were speaking, and they would soon be out.

And within an hour, they were in the forest. It was unreal, and somehow anticlimactic. Dumbledore himself removed the blackness spell, and they were flown back to the castle just as the sun was setting, being showered with praise for making the most of what they had, as well as their ingenious charms and transfigurations. Soon, completely tired out from all their magical draining, they fell asleep in the hospital wing.


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Disclaimer: Most of it's not mine, and if it's yours I apologise for stealing it... unless you're J K Rowling, the theft was completely unintentional. If you are her... um, I'm sorry?******

_Chapter Twelve_

One of the first things Lily asked Madam Pomfrey the next morning was about the glumbumbles. Madam Pomfrey immediately reassured her, saying that the treacle could be bought, although expensively, and there were more important issues at hand.

They were let out of the hospital wing at sunset that same day. Lily and James didn't have a chance to enjoy it, though, because they were summoned at once to Dumbledore's office. Inside were both the headmaster and Professor McGonagall. They both looked unusually grave. Lily and James seated themselves, and waited for one of their teachers to talk. Dumbledore did first, after a moment of silence.

"If you haven't already guessed, we're here to talk about recent activities involving yourselves. Firstly, let's establish the main facts… both the snow-in and the magical moss incident were created and caused by Voldemort. He is responsible for both, as I have recently ascertained. I have also some speculations as to why. Your head of house, Professor McGonagall, knows of your surmises, and she agrees with much of what you've thought." Dumbledore paused, to let this sink in, and both James and Lily nodded. So he continued, "At first, I thought the snow was to keep myself and the other teachers at Hogwarts inside the castle, to prevent us from interfering. Apparently, now, that was just a cover. I strongly suspect that it was to bring you two together. Now we come to the question, what is Voldemort trying to achieve here?

"As Lily suggested, there are two main ideas. One is to get you together, and the other is to tear you apart. We'll start with the evidence for the former theory. Let's go by this theory, for the moment. Voldemort knew you two were enemies. The knowledge of your new friendship, only a few days before your detention, was not apparent to him. He brought you together for longer than we had originally planned, hoping, no doubt, that your enmity would progress into stronger hatred at this enforced company. He evidently hasn't done research enough, always a key fault in many students these days… but I digress. Perhaps you would like to hear of the Indian aspects of witchcraft later?"

Lily and James politely assented, suppressing smiles. This was, of course, extremely serious, and they understood it, but they were both teenagers. Dumbledore's habitual digression wasn't their only source of amusement; McGonagall was flinching every time Dumbledore said 'Voldemort.'

"So, annoyed when his ploy failed, and you showed a contrary increase of attachment towards each other." James and Lily studiously avoided one another's eyes, Lily blushed, and Dumbledore's own twinkled. He continued, "Voldemort thought up another plan. Despite being evil, he is rather intelligent." Lily suddenly realised that she had blushed. _Damn it, the charm must have worn off!_ It was amazing how her attention wandered when she not only knew of the importance of this discussion, but also wanted to hear it. "He may here have used a ploy of your idea, Lily, reverse psychology, or even reverse, reverse, reverse psychology. Either way, you stumbled onto his plan."

James and Lily once again nodded to show that they understood. Professor McGonagall's face was impassive; she had evidently heard this before. James wondered whether she had decided which course was the correct one.

"And now for the other theory," Dumbledore went on. "It is possible Voldemort wants you two together, and the way he has done that is obvious, whether he used plain tactics or any number of psychologies. Either way, it worked." Again, the two blushed, as if on cue. Dumbledore's eyes regained their customary twinkle for a moment, before they dulled once more.

"So now we come to the reasoning. Why? If he wants you apart, it may be for a host of reasons. He wants to avoid the possible strongest witch and wizard of your generation from marrying and consequently becoming stronger. It is also possible that he fears any children that may come about from the union, with good reason. There are other reasons, of course, but those seem the most likely. Possibly, you'll both work for the ministry, and make great changes as a team… but the first seem the most likely. And now, what reasons are there to want you together?"

Lily and James looked at each other. Why would Voldemort want them together?

"Maybe," James said slowly, thinking as he spoke, "It would be easier to… dispose of us if we were together. He could kill us more easily if we were married, and if we were that close, the death of one could force the other to suicide." He seemed to forget that he was talking about himself. "And again, we come to the children… if he or she _was_ that powerful, Voldemort might want to raise it himself, as a successor, or even as a… a partner?" He finished and looked around, seeking the opinions of the others. Dumbledore nodded slowly, his face very grave. Professor McGonagall was biting her lips, but she too looked grave. Lily was white, and she sat rigid in her seat. She appeared to be thinking over everything that had been said, and then she nodded.

"I think it makes sense," she told everyone in general. Slowly, Dumbledore and McGonagall nodded. Then McGonagall said,

"I can think of no other reasons. We seem to have covered all of them. Do you have any suggestions, Albus?"

"Yes. I think that you should continue however you want to. Don't make any decisions because of this Voldemort. Do what you will, but let any choices be made by yourselves, without outside influences. And if you decide to… get married, I suggest you go to somebody to check for any… curses or bewitching you may have unwittingly been put under, or put yourselves under."

"I think that's a good idea." Lily said, gaining more colour in her cheeks. "Thank you, professor."

"Yes, thanks. It helped, a lot…" The headmaster and the Head of Gryffindor smiled at the two Head students. Lily and James took their leave. They were close to the Gryffindor tower when Lily stopped James.

"If you want to talk, maybe it would be better to come to the Head Girl bathroom."

"Good idea," James said, shaking off his thoughtful expression and smiling for the first time since they had left the office. Lily and James took a right turn and then continued on the bathroom. They didn't talk again until Lily had closed the door afterwards.

"I _must_ change that password!" she said aloud, shaking her head ruefully.

"It's still the offensive one about me?" James asked, a small smile on his lips.

Lily grinned and ducked her head, leading the way to the sofas. She and James settled into one of them, and James put his arm around her shoulders. Lily rested her head on his shoulder, and sighed deeply. "It's too much, somehow," she said tiredly. James pulled her closer to him, and put his head on top of hers, answering without words.

They sat there in silence for a while, thinking over their own thoughts, mulling over the problem at hand.

At last, James said decisively, "I think Dumbledore's right. Let's continue as if none of this happened, just… go with the flow."

"Yes. It could have just been a coincidence, or something."

"Yeah."

Time flew, and it was soon the week before Lily's birthday. Lily and James got together once more in Lily's bathroom/sitting room, at James's request.

"So what is it?" Lily asked him.

"Well, remember the last prank? That we did together?"

"How could I forget it?" Lily asked with a smile.

"Exactly! And we've got our NEWTs soon, so we'll probably get loads of homework in the next two terms, not to mention all the studying we ought to be doing. We won't have time to plan pranks, so I think we should go out with a bang on your birthday!"

"Okay… do you have any ideas?"

James grinned. "Of course I've got ideas! There's always the Slytherins, or there are our friends. But I think, this last one, it should be something that the whole school sees, and something that will be our style, without actually proving us guilty."

"Hmm… something big, definitely. And something that rings of us… well, that's easy. Transfiguration and charms, combined, they'll be so strong that only the teachers can take them off! Hopefully."


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Disclaimer: Most of it's not mine, and if it's yours I apologise for stealing it... unless you're J K Rowling, the theft was completely unintentional. If you are her... um, I'm sorry? **

_Chapter Thirteen_

"Did you have anything specific in mind?" Lily asked, after thinking to herself for a while.

"Yes, actually, but how much you'll like it I don't know. I was thinking more of a show than a prank… but it _will_ scare the Slytherins witless, of course."

"Tell me?" Lily asked, grinning in anticipation.

"What if, oh, say, a dragon were to appear at the very end of dinner on your birthday? And it breathed fire on our beloved Slytherins?"

"Oh, I wish!" Lily said, a wild gleam in her eyes. Then she shook her head regretfully, "But no, it's way too dangerous. Besides which, where could we get the dragon from?"

"We could make it!"

"Make a dragon?! James, you're crazy! Nobody can just _make_ a dragon!"

"Not a real one! But we could make a damn good replica… look, find a picture of a dragon, yeah? Easy enough, right? Making a model of it from the photo will be hard, but manageable. If worst comes to worst, I'll invent a spell for it… but I'm sure there's one somewhere. Then you come in. You can use some sort of charm to make it breathe flames, but those cool ones, not the hot ones. Enchant it to swish its tail around and flap its wings. Then all we have to do is levititate it in the hall, and wait for the right moment. When that comes, we'll enlarge it, and set it loose on the hall! We can direct it with wands first, to come flying right over the Slytherin table and scare them witless, make it blow flame onto Snape, and then it can soar around the ceiling for a while."

"I guess…" Lily said doubtfully. "I mean, it'll be cool if we can pull it off, sure, but…"

"We can do it! It will work! Besides, didn't you want to go out with a bang?"

"Yeah, I guess. Hey!" Lily's eyes suddenly took on a dangerous gleam. "Once it's soared around the ceiling for a while, and the food is cleared off the tables, we can make it land on the teachers' table!"

"Right in front of Dumbledore!"

"Yeah!"

James and Lily grinned at each other, each anticipating and imagining the havoc a dragon in the dining hall would wreak amongst the students. Then Lily said, "So when to start work on it?"

"We'll start Saturday, if all's good for you. It will take a lot of work and research, though."

"Since when have I been afraid of work? Especially for such a good cause! Let's do it!"

The project did take a lot of work, and it meant a lot of time spent in the library. But by Sunday evening, they had found a really good picture of an 'Antipodean Opaleye Dragon,' a spell to convert objects in a picture into stationary separate models (from book entitled _Useful Spells to Confuse the Unwary_). So on Monday after lessons were finished, Lily and James were sitting on the floor of Lily's bathroom, concentrating on the photo in front of them. From then on, it was only a matter of applying the charms and the spells so that one did not affect the other.

By Tuesday, the dragon was looking realistic. Charms were in place for making its eyes glow properly, its tail to move back and forth, and for its wings to flap. On Wednesday, they figured out how to make it breathe its famous scarlet-coloured flame. And on Thursday, the day before Lily's birthday, they added the charm that would allow them to control the dragon, by moving a stick that they had found in the Hogwarts grounds. Horizontal meant go forward, vertical meant backwards. To the right meant to turn right, and to the left a turn left. Moving the whole stick down or up would make the dragon go down or up, and a complete stop could be achieved by tapping the stick twice with a wand. On Friday, they were waiting eagerly for dinner, their friends having no idea of what was about to happen. At breakfast, they all sang Happy Birthday to Lily, and did so in every class, break, and in lunch that day until Lily was ready to scream. They had also all given her small presents- the one from James being a note, telling her he _hadn__t_ forgotten her, and that she would receive his present for her that evening, after the 'dinner thing.'

Finally, all of the plates were cleared, and Dumbledore stood up, about to, no doubt, give the school his customary well wishes for the weekend, and a dismissal. At a nod from Lily, James flicked his wand at the dragon, hidden in his napkin, and muttered a few well-chosen words. The miniature dragon began to rise, unnoticed as everyone's attention was on Dumbledore. At a second nod from Lily, James increased its size, and then Lily muttered the spell for all the Charms placed on it to go into action. The school suddenly became aware of the huge Opaleye dragon, hovering above them.

James had the stick, and he controlled the dragon, making it do a loop around the Great Hall, and then swooping low over the Slytherin table, breathing bright red fire. A few of the Slytherins screamed, and Snape had turned even paler than he usually looked. Lucius looked terrified; his mouth hung open in a petrified 'o'. James made the dragon turn, swoop down once more onto the table, and then back up into the roof of the Great Hall, circling around and around. Suddenly there was whispered commotion, everyone in the Hall staring wide-eyed at the dragon and wondered aloud where it had come from, whether it was real, and if it was dangerous. Sensing that they were beginning to lose their up-until-now-captivated audience, James decided to let the show end. With a quick glance at Lily, who nodded approval, he put the finishing touches of his plan into action.

The dragon swept down, flying low between the House tables, causing a few shrieks from some of the first- and second-years at the house tables, the ones who hadn't realised that noise would probably make the dragon be more likely to go for them. The dragon swept up, along the sides of the teachers' table, up above it, and then zoomed down and landed right on top of the empty plates on the table, its glittering, multi-coloured eyes staring straight at Dumbledore. The headmaster grinned for a moment, and then began to clap.

Soon, the whole school joined in, Lily and James included. Their friends were all looking at them suspiciously, and Dumbledore was shaking his head at them, a small smile playing on his lips. The other teaches were looking bewildered, the students awed and still somewhat frightened, and Hagrid was examining the dragon that had settled on the head table with a look of fascination.

As the clapping died down, Dumbledore cleared his throat. When there was once again silence, he said, "An excellent job! I must congratulate the students who did this, and announce that, amusing as it has been, they will of course get detentions if their identity comes to light. I also want to wish our present Head Girl, Lily Evans, a very happy birthday. Have a good weekend, all of you!"

As soon as he had finished speaking, Mia, Kate, Lisa, Trinity, Sirius, Remus, and James all began singing Happy Birthday once more. Lily glared furiously at them. Her glare tripled in intensity when the rest of the school, excluding many of the Slytherins but including Professor Dumbledore, joined in. When they had finished, though, she couldn't stop the grin from spreading across her face. As embarrassing as her friends could sometimes be, she loved them. And James had yet to give her his present!

Later on that evening, James and Lily finally managed to sneak away from their congratulating friends for a walk around the Hogwarts grounds.

"Was it worth it?" James asked her.

"Definitely. We really did go out with a bang! And Dumbledore as good as said he knew it was us, but wouldn't blame us unless someone gave him proof!"

"His birthday present to you, perhaps?"

"Maybe he just thought it was funny? Snape's face… _that_ was something I won't forget for a while! I thought the dragon looked good, though, life-sized. Didn't you?"

"Yeah. It looked real… did you see the way Hagrid was looking at it? _That_ was funny!"

"A success all round, I'd say. It's a pity about the NEWTs coming up, though. More study, less messing around."

"And you do well in all of them! Besides, think of everything we can do once they're over… and after graduation, too! What do you want to be?"

"I don't know. I haven't thought much about it… an Auror maybe. I want to do something active against Voldemort, for what he's done to the whole wizarding world, not just to us."

"Yeah, but there are so many things you can do and still be against Voldemort. Teaching at Hogwarts, being a journalist for the Daily Prophet or some magazine- they'd all help a lot in the effort. Then you could start up a volunteer group, aid for the people affected, etc. There's just so much we could do!"

"You're right. But you know, I still think I like the idea of Auror. I mean, it's hard work and all, but you get to be out there, doing things. If I had to help actively, or help indirectly, I know I'd prefer to be out there doing it, rather than encouraging others to do it, or stuff like that. You know?"

"Yes, me too. I'm thinking of Auror as a profession, too, actually. You know they're recruiting now?"

"No? They are? How'd you find out?" The Aurory, a training school for would-be Aurors, was a difficult place to get into; most only often got in through invitation, or through a series of tests and trials.

"They owled me this morning, asking if I'd like to join. They also said that they were recruiting now, and that if I knew anyone else interested, that I should say so. But they sent you an owl, too. It seems word of our recent escape from that hut has got around."

"Really? They owled me? I haven't got anything!"

"Maybe it'll come tomorrow."

"Yeah, maybe," James said. Lily grinned at him in the dark.

"Probably, if not definitely, and you know it! Stop feeling sorry for yourself!"

"All right then! I'll feel sorry for you!"

"Why?" Lily asked.

"Why not? There's got to be something in your life I should feel sorry for you for."

"Have you been drinking again?" Lily asked in mock suspicion. How he could change his mood so often was beyond her, but he made her laugh through doing it.

"Yeah, yeah. Speaking of feeling sorry, I've been meaning to give you your birthday present all day, but there always seemed to be interruptions. Maybe it had something to do with that dragon… anyway, here it is. I know it's cliché and traditional, but I liked it, and I thought you would too, so…" He shrugged and handed Lily a box.

She grinned at him, and sat down at the foot of a tree overlooking the lake to open it. James sat next to her.

Under a layer of wrapping paper, Lily found a card. The front cover had 'Happy Birthday' in curly silver letters on it. Inside, though, James had written:

_Lily,___

_I'll agree with the front of the card, hope your birthday__s a great one! I also hope you like the present. Speaking of which, why are you reading this card?!?! Get to opening the present!___

_Love,___

_James_

Lily grinned at him before looking at the present itself that she had unwrapped. It was a black lacquer box, with the letters J and L intertwined in silver on the lid. Inside, Lily found a silver chain, with a stone at the end. In the darkness, she couldn't see what colour it was, but James lit the end of his wand, and Lily held up the necklace in the light to admire it.

"It's called a wizard's opal," James told her quietly. "Its usual colour is that of a normal opal, but if you want to, you can change its colour, just by wanting it to be that colour as you hold it."

Lily carefully put the necklace back into the box before she turned on James, and kissed him. When she withdrew, she softly said, "Thankyou. They're both beautiful. Will you put the necklace on for me?"

James decided not to spoil the moment by saying that it would suit her better. Instead, he took it out of the box, and did the clasp at the back of her neck. Fingering the stone, she again said, "Thank you. I love it."

"I'd hoped so," James said, before pulling her towards him for another kiss.

****

**A/N Well, like it? It****s fluffy, it****s got pranks, it****s got L/J, it****s got revenge on Snape, it****s got talk of Voldemort****…**** it has everything apart from reviews! And that's all that remains of my old A/N here… wow, was I hyper when I wrote the old one. Please review!**


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**Disclaimer: Most of it's not mine, and if it's yours I apologise for stealing it... unless you're J K Rowling, the theft was completely unintentional. If you are her... um, I'm sorry? **

**A/N This chapter's going to take some explaining, I think. First of all, I _highly _recommend that you read _Worthy Friends _before going any further with this. It's not all that long, and it's a companion story to this one. Because if you don't I'll be giving things away here and believe me it'll make a lot more sense if you read WF first. I'm sorry about the dots below, but you _really _don't want to see what's written in my A/N down there if you haven't read WF. **

**Done that? Good. Now, let's see. Trinity has an arranged marriage. Trinity is Indian. Before you scream at me for being stereotypical and whatever else, hear me out. I am an international person. I have many friends all over the world and from all over the world. Of all my Indian friends, and there are a number of them, _none _have arranged marriages. Of all my other friends, only one of them has any conditions on her marriage, and that is that her husband will be from her own country and of her religion. I'm not naming that friend. I _know _that arranged marriages are in almost all cases nowadays a thing of the past, and very much a part of western culture as much as it is for Eastern and Asian and whatever else culture. That being said, Trinity's Indian. She could just have easily as been from any other country, but I just happened to make her Indian. This is where I say 'deal with it.' And now I shut up. This is the last chapter, everyone… I hope you like it, and all the changes I've made!**

_Chapter Fourteen_

The next four days of November passed without mishap, as did December. Christmas came and went, with Lily, James, and most of their friends all staying at school and causing chaos to reign supreme. There were, however, no more major pranks. There was no time for serious planning, because they had so much revision and homework to do that they couldn't spare the time for serious pranking. Instead, they kept to minor things, generally food-related.

Christmas day came without mishap. Lord Voldemort seemed to be taking the holidays as a time for rest, because no attacks came during the Hogwarts Christmas break. James and Lily grew closer; Lisa and Douglass announced their engagement. Trinity and Sirius broke up, but would not tell their friends the reason. They remained close friends, and neither Sirius nor Trinity accepted dates with anybody else, although both were asked by several students who had, it seemed, been waiting for just this opportunity.

And so the Christmas break ended, and real studying for the NEWTs began. None of the seventh-years were to be seen without a book or a quill in the long winter nights. Sirius suddenly became a big reader, and his voice was raised less and less frequently. He was becoming almost withdrawn, which scared James more than he would like to admit. At least, that was until one Wednesday evening, when James approached Sirius about the whole issue.

"Sirius, what's the matter?" James asked, concern evident in his dark eyes. The rest of the common room was deserted, the younger students already asleep, the older students bullied into going to their dorms by all of James's (and so Lily's) friends.

"Nothing," Sirius said mechanically, and continued to read, but this time James wouldn't have it.

"Enough, Sirius," he said, setting his face stubbornly, and took the book off Sirius, careful to mark the page. "You're not putting me off anymore. We're talking. Now."

"There's nothing to say, James."

"Yes there _is_. There's been something wrong ever since… well, ever since Christmas, in fact. And you're either going to tell me, or give me a very good reason as to why you can't tell me."

"Nothing's wrong. I'm fine. Everything's perfectly _fine_!"

"No it's not," James told him. "And I'll be damned if I'm going to sit here and let you study- whatever it is you study every single night. I'm your friend, and you're bloody well _not_ going to shut me off like this!"

Sirius scowled sullenly, and sat back in silence, glaring at James. James refused to be intimidated, and looked down at the book Sirius had been reading. The book was a dark green colour, and old, with the title: _Indian Arranged Marriages: Their Advantages and Drawbacks_.

"What the hell are you- oh. God no." James suddenly realised and broke off his sentence. He mutely handed the book back to Sirius. When Sirius accepted it without a word, James said softly, "I didn't realise."

"It's… okay. I'm researching, trying to find a way to get around it."

"I… is there anything you can do?"

"I don't know. There might be a way… but it hasn't been done in a long time." Sirius seemed to take it for granted that James understood. "I'm going to do it, though. There's nobody that can stop me."

"Of course not. Is there any way I can help?"

"Not yet. I might need some help in some of the more complex magical parts later, but at the moment I'm still in the research stage. This is a project I'm not doing the night before."

"Naturally. Well, good luck. And seriously, give me a yell whenever you need anything. I'll do whatever I can to help. Don't cut me off." James smiled sympathetically, and Sirius returned the smile, a grateful look in his eyes. Then James stood, and, with a warm, silent grasp of Sirius's shoulder, went up to his own dorm. He wouldn't tell anyone, of course.

Sirius's research continued, and gradually his mood began to lighten. He smiled more often, laughed at more jokes, and one week even suggested a trip to Hogsmeade. He did, however, have ulterior motives, because James saw him split off from the group and into an actual _bookshop_ that James had been in, but Sirius had previously avoided like the plague. It was that night, in fact, that Sirius came to ask James for help.

"Hey, James?" Sirius asked as James was reading on a couch, with Lily curled up next to him.

"Hmm?" replied, preoccupied with his book.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?"

James seemed to notice the tone of voice Sirius employed, because he immediately excused himself from Lily and followed Sirius out of the portrait hole, and into a nearby empty classroom. "What's up, Sirius?" James asked.

"I… need your advice and help," Sirius confessed.

"Which first?" James asked, seating himself on top of a table. Sirius sat on one opposite, and took a breath.

"I have to be officially Indian, bonded by magic, determination, strong desire, and blood."

"You're going to do it?" James asked softly.

"Yes. There is no other alternative that I can see. But I need you to tell me, honestly, whether you think it will work. Here: I've copied down all of the vital information… read it, and tell me what you think." Sirius handed James a roll of parchment, and James began to read, in Sirius's surprisingly obsessively neat handwriting:

_The only historically know unions of a non-Indian man to an Indian woman in magical history were where the man performed the ceremony to become a part of the magical Indian community. ___

_Blood donated has to be other than from potential bride or her extended family, requires two magically-inclined witnesses of any race, and one Indian-born that is the blood donor. All must sincerely want ceremony completion._

_Ceremony needs blood from willing Indian donor, which must be mixed with applicant's own blood at time of immersion. Said immersion to be wand-arm into thyme-scented boiling water, for the duration of blood-mixing and official spell casting. Spell to be chanted by other two witnesses. _

_Ceremony: Blood must be given by willing blood donor. Shallow cut administered by blood-donor to applicant's arm (not wand arm), and a similar cut to be administered by applicant to donor's arm. Cuts must be pressed together and blood mingled at same time that applicant's wand arm is immersed in boiling water enough to fill one medium-sized cauldron, having had four thyme leaves soaking in said water for at least four days prior to ceremony… 7 days for strongest magical tie. During this process, all parties must sincerely want ceremony to succeed, and two witnesses chanting the following:_

**_Tie of courage to join the spirit,_**

**_Tie of heart to join the people,_**

**_Tie of blood to join the race,_**

**_Tie of need to join the hearts, _**

**_Trial of pain assure the truth,_**

**_Soul of old be cleansed anew,_**

**_One of value assume the title,_**

**_Become the man with love and pride,_**

**_Join eternally the everlasting people._**

****

_If need, want, magic, or blood is not sufficient, applicant will die. If successful, cuts will heal on closure of chant, water will become cool, and mark of Indian will become apparent.___

James handed the parchment back to Sirius. "If you really want it, I'll back you. All the way." He said nothing of the possibility of death, knowing that Sirius knew of the chances. He just hoped to hell that Sirius knew what he was doing.

I want to. It's the only way."

"Who do you want to take part in the ceremony, then? Have you found a blood-donor?"

"Yes and no… I want you, of course, to be a witness and spell-chanter. I thought I could ask Lily to be the second one- Lily is close to Trin, and I don't know how Remus's… complication will affect the ceremony. And Trinity has a cousin in Ravenclaw, a year younger than us. I think… I know that she will agree to be donor."

"Then we'll do it. When?"

It was a Saturday night, the first day of Spring Break. The thyme had been immersed in water for seven days. They were in a classroom that had been locked and soundproofed to prevent distraction with the strongest spells the four of them combined could come up with. Sirius stood in the middle, facing Trinity's cousin. He held a silver knife with a hilt of black ebony. Lily and James stood opposite, facing each other, between the donor and the applicant. The cauldron was in the centre of the small circle, the water bubbling and giving off a scent stronger than they had imagined it would be.

"On the count of three," Sirius said, looking at the knife identical to his own that the girl in front of him held. "One… two… three."

_Tie of courage to join the spirit._

Sirius's right hand went into the boiling water. He did not flinch.

_Tie of heart to join the people._

His knife moved cut her left arm as her own cut his. He did not flinch.

_Tie of blood to join the race._

Their arms met, blood merging, trickling down into the steaming cauldron below. He did not move.

_Tie of need to join the hearts. Trial of pain assure the truth._

Sirius bit his lip, his face white. He stood still.

_Soul of old be cleansed anew. One of value assume the title._

He did not falter.

_Become the man with love and pride. Join eternally the everlasting people._

There was no crash of thunder. There was no flash of light. Sirius stepped back from the girl facing him. He took his arm out of the still water in the cauldron.

On his hands, vines of henna brown began to grow, twisting to form leaves and buds, spreading up and up, past his wrists, past his elbows, to his shoulders. They strengthened, they twisted, and they grew in intricate patterns. Sirius stared in wonder, his eyes wide and his face set as he watched the ever-moving vines claim his arms. He smiled then, a smile that filled out his face and lit up his eyes for the first time in months. Slowly, he made a pass over his left arm with his right, and his right arm with his left. The vines faded, leaving only pale skin in sight, skin that had spent far too much time inside.

He stood on the street corner, peering through the darkness to find the house. It was there, on the other side of the road, standing tall and forbidding. The lights downstairs were on, but to him, they gave out no warmth. This was the moment of truth.

He stepped towards the house, taking faster and faster steps, until he reached the front path. With a trembling hand, the front gate was unlatched. He entered, and closed the gate behind him. Then he followed the path, twisting and turning like the vines on his arms. He stood at the door, and straightened his robes. He lifted the heavy knocker and allowed it to drop. The sound echoed throughout the night.

The door was opened after a pause, and a man stood there looking at Sirius enquiringly. "Can I help you?"

"Yes. I have come with a request. May I speak with you at your convenience?" The wording had to be perfect, Sirius prayed he hadn't made a mistake.

"I have no business to attend to that cannot be done another day. Enter, if you mean no harm."

"I thank you," Sirius said. It would have been funny to an observer; the words were unrealistic, uncommon for the times, but they were part of the complex ritual that had to be observed. One misstep on Sirius's part, and all would be lost.

Sirius stepped in side, and stood courteously until the man who had led him in was seated. Then Sirius sat, perching carefully on the edge of the seat, his hands gripping his robes in an attempt to keep them from nervously twisting.

"I have come for a favour sir," Sirius said. "Do I have the privilege of addressing the honoured father of Trinity?"

"Honoured as he is to have her for a daughter, you do."

"I bring with me a gift in respect of your family, and hope of your friendship and goodwill."

"I thank you for your kind offer of a gift, but can accept none without some knowledge of your intentions." The man was trying to catch Sirius out, he felt sure. He was subtly changing the ritual, and Sirius realised that he would have to make the result of the ceremony he had undergone apparent.

"I give my word as one of the everlasting people that my intentions are honourable." That was the hint; would the older man accept it?

"Your intentions appear to be so; it is of your background I am uncertain. _I_ belong to the everlasting people. I am not certain that you do." The man had changed the script entirely now, needing proof of identity before he was willing to continue with negotiations.

"I am one with the everlasting people, in spirit through courage, as one through heart, of a race by blood, of the heart through need, and of the truth, through pain. I am who I claim to be." Sirius had this speech practised; he knew with a clarity that he had never felt before that this was exactly what he had to say. "I am of your people." As he said this last, he passed his arms over each other, momentarily revealing the vines, before once more hiding them. This was all the proof he needed to give.

"You are of us," the man said, the look of wonder in his eyes being slowly replaced with understanding. "Your gift is accepted as it is given, in good will and good intentions."

Sirius took from his pocket a small black bag, which he handed to Trinity's father. The man accepted the bag, and laid it aside without opening it. That, too, was custom.

"I have told you of my wish to ask a favour. It is of this I come to speak," Sirius said.

"Speak on, son," was the reply, and Sirius suppressed his thankful smile. Those were the words that indicated acceptance if conditions were of a standard.

"I wish to take part in the ceremony of three with regard to Trinity."

"What do you have to offer my daughter?"

"I have a house to offer. I have a prospective job to offer." That much was true- Sirius had already had his ministry Auror-application returned positively. "I have a dowry to present to her father, the sum negotiable, and a heart full of love for your daughter."

There. He had said it. Now the negotiations would begin. If the dowry was acceptable, he would be allowed to be one of the three suitors. There would be no need of a duel against another if Trinity's suitors; her father's previous acceptance of Sirius as a 'son' had proved that there was room in the three for him.

"Your prospect interests me, and undoubtedly so my daughter. What dowry-price do you assert?"

The negotiations continued long into the night. It was a tricky business, Sirius knowing that a too high amount would show too much eagerness, but an amount too low would make it appear that Sirius underestimated Trinity's worth. In the end, Sirius won. He would be the second suitor that Trinity was to meet. Sirius could only pray that Trinity would not accept the first. It was against custom for him to inform Trinity that he was one of the suitors. She would not find out until she met him as a suitor.

The night that Sirius left to speak with Trinity's father left both Lily and James in the common room, worrying.

"I hope it goes well." Lily said, for the umpteenth time.

"It will. Sirius would give up everything for that girl. It'll be fine."

"Yes, I suppose. I hope!"

"It's funny, isn't it? Lisa and Douglass engaged, Sirius asking to be allowed to marry Trinity. I wonder who will be next." James said, and then grinned impishly. "Kate and Peter, do you think?"

"James! That's mean!" Lily said, but she couldn't help the grin that was spreading across her face.

"It made you laugh, didn't it?"

"It's still mean! Poor Peter."

"He should be used to it by now. And it's his own fault- I _told_ him not to go anywhere near Kate, because she's only messing around. He told me I was jealous, and that, and I'm quoting, 'Kate just can't resist my charm.'"

"Did he really? Poor boy!"

"Yeah. Well, serves him right. And is it true Kate's set her sights on Remus, now?"

"Yes, she has."

"Oh," James said, "well, she won't get him. Remus has that much common sense, at least."

"Yeah, I hope so." Conversation petered off around here, and the two of them just sat together, staring into the fire, and thinking along similar lines. At last, James cleared his throat.

"Hey Lily?" he asked softly.

"Yes?" she turned to look at him, her breath caught in her throat, and trying to act naturally.

He took a deep breath. "After school, you said you wanted to be an Auror?"

"Yes…" Lily said, wondering where he was leading. They had already talked about what they wanted to be after school, many times. James was still undecided, but leaning towards Auror, too.

"I think I want to be an Auror, too. That has nothing to do with anything else I'm going to ask you… just that it's what I've decided. And we'll both have to live near the ministry…"

Lily wondered how long he would take to say what he was going to say, and refrained from telling him to 'spit it out.' Being both romantic and cynical at the same time was sometimes difficult to bear.

"Well, what would you say to… to living with me?"

Lily threw herself on him, in an affirmative answer that wasn't verbal.

The Hogwarts graduation ceremony was complete. Everyone was back in his dorm unpacking. Actually, all of the 7th year boys were in their dorms unpacking. The girls had all done that the night before, and were now in their own, reminiscing. Slowly, the girls who weren't a part of Lily's group of closest friends disappeared off to say goodbye to their friends in other houses, and Lily, Mia, Trinity, Lisa, and Kate were left alone.

Trinity took a deep breath. "I have something to tell you."

Lily knew what it would be and said nothing, but none of the others had any idea. Yet.

"It's- well, you all know my family's Indian, right?"

"Well yeah!" Kate said, grinning.

"Well, when my great-grandparents moved out here a long time ago, they brought their traditions with them. We still carry them all on. Including arranged marriages."

"Jesus," Mia whispered.

"You- you have an arranged marriage?" Lisa asked.

"Yes, I do. And… I should've told you guys ages ago. But I didn't. And that's why I broke up with Sirius, because I was getting too close to him, and I have to marry someone else."

Nobody said anything, but Kate hugged Trinity tightly, and one by one Mia, Lisa, and Lily joined the hug.

Lily took the key from James and unlocked the door. She twisted the knob, and the door opened silently. With a grin at James, Lily led the way into what was now their very own flat. They quickly did a tour, the small living/dining room, the even smaller kitchen, the bathroom, and then the bedroom. It was a tiny place, but it had all they would need.

Lily ran around the flat, grinning from ear to ear. At last, she stopped in the middle of the living room and flung her arms around James.

"It's ours, it's ours, it's ours!" she chanted happily, still grinning.

"All ours." James said, with a satisfied smile. "Now all we need is furniture!"

"Yep! We're doing that next, right?"

Three hours, and a lot of money (both in pounds and Galleons) later, they had a bed, a couch, a table, four chairs, a bookshelf, and other odds and ends necessary to the not-quite-married life of Hogwarts graduates. Lily was once again dancing around the living room, grinning once more.

"We have furniture!"

"Yep! And I've just carried it up two flights of stairs, so if you don't mind, I'm going to _sit_ on it!"

"You did not carry it! You lifted it up with your wand!"

"It doesn't make any difference! It was still hard work!"

"Oh yeah? How?"

"You know how crap my Charms is!"

"Excuse me! Yours Charms isn't crap anymore! You came fifth in the year, had you forgotten?"

"True. All thanks to you." James grinned at her, and kissed her.

"I know!" Lily said, grinning. "And you help me with Transfiguration. "All's fair in love and war."

"And schoolwork."

"Where did _that_ come from?"

There was more silliness, until they both finally calmed down. Then they went to join their friends for dinner.

Lily and James Apparated in a restaurant in Diagon Alley, and quickly joined the ever-growing crowd of happy teenagers at a table. Everybody else was there, and Lily settled down between Mia and James, grinning happily.

"Our house is liveable now!"

They relived their Hogwarts days, laughing and talking, and full of 'do you remembers.' After dinner had finished, and they had all left the restaurant (much to the waiters' relief), they were milling around outside.

"What to do now?" Lisa asked.

"I know! I've always wanted to get a tattoo! Let's do that!"

So they did. A tattoo parlour close to the end of Diagon Alley obliged, and Kate soon had a tattoo of a rose on her upper arm. Being magical, its leaves rustled as if in the wind, and Kate showed them all how she could make it seem as if she didn't have one. After that, it was Mia's turn to live one of her dreams. They all made a trip to St Mungo's, where Mia finally got her eyesight fixed. That was another happy moment, and then it was Sirius's turn. Peter excused himself, saying that he was tired and needed to go back home.

Sirius, being Sirius, wanted a motorbike. So it was off to Hogsmeade they went, and Sirius chose a motorbike. A flying motorbike. He couldn't actually ride it, because he hadn't passed his test yet, so they sat around admiring it, and then they Apparated to Sirius's new house, taking the bike with him. Then it was Remus's turn, and Remus wanted a puppy. Nobody quite knew why, because he had never talked about dogs before at Hogwarts to anybody's knowledge, but he was adamant. So it was to the muggle RSPCA that they went, and came back to Remus's flat with a half-starved puppy. Peter wasn't home, even though he had said he would be, but nobody noticed his absence. They were all too keyed-up, and they spent the next half hour setting up part of the room for the puppy to live in, feeding it, patting it, and playing with it. When the floor was suitably covered in newspaper, the dog asleep in its new basket, everyone came back outside. It was Lisa's turn.

She wanted friendship necklaces for the girls, so they went back to Diagon Alley. In a small jewellery shop, she found what she was looking for. Four silver chains, with pendants on the end. They were silver, and the pendants at the end were silver hearts, with a stone inside each. Lily's was a solid green colour, similar to an emerald, but much more vibrant. Lisa's was a deep purple. Mia's stone was red, and Trinity's was a deep sea blue. They happily accepted the gift from Mia, celebrating with another group hug. Even James, Sirius, and Remus joined in. The woman in the shop told them that when they held the necklace, it would warm if somebody was thinking of its owner. Each girl instinctively raised a hand to clasp the charm in her hand, and each was rewarded with a warmth seeping into her hand. They grinned at each other once more, and then told James it was his turn.

"I don't know what I want!" James moaned. "At least, there's nothing that I can afford after all that furniture today!" There were suggestions from everyone, and finally James decided. "Okay, okay, I've got it! You girls have friendship necklaces, well… I'm gonna get the guys friendship socks!"

There was silence for a while, and then everyone burst out laughing. But James was actually serious, so they went to a shop and explained to the owner what they wanted. They had to try three different shops, because by this time it was nearly midnight and everything was closed, but finally they found one that was open. The man doing the selling looked somewhat wary of them, but he complied with James's wishes, and cast a spell to make the socks become warm when anybody was thinking about them.

Next, Lily said that she wanted to take the group out to a muggle nightclub. There were cheers to that, and then laughter directed at Sirius when he professed shock, saying, "But aren't all the muggles asleep by now?"

Three hours later, everyone was slightly drunker than they wanted to be, and tired out from dancing. Lily cast a very handy spell that she had learned only two days below, restoring everyone to sobriety. And then it was Trinity's turn. She sobered everyone up even more with her words.

"I met my first…I guess you'd call it a suitor, last night… wait, the night before last." She said, looking at her watch and realising it was three in the morning. "Tonight I'm meeting my second, so what _I _want, is this…" With a smile to the group, she kissed Sirius passionately. There was a pause as everyone realised that they should probably disappear while Trinity said her last goodbye, so the group Apparated back to Lily and James's apartment. They all drank coffee and talked even more, until Sirius and Trinity arrived ten minutes later. Trinity looked sad, but happy at the same time about what she had done. Sirius had a peculiar expression on his face, one that Lily couldn't read. She hadn't realised that he would be proposing tonight.

"Well guys, it's been a long night. I think I'm going to bed. Same time next week?" Lily asked.

"Same time next week!" Everyone Apparated home, leaving James and Lily alone.

"Ready to spend the first night in our new home, then?" James asked.

"Oh yeah!" Lily said. "Come on, you." She dragged him off into the bedroom.

It was evening, and Trinity was once again in the garden she had been in two days before, waiting to meet her second prospective husband. She sat on the bench, wondering who it would be, and whether he would be nice. The first guy was just completely wrong for her. She had met him in Hogwarts, actually, and he was a Slytherin. Trinity tried to keep an open mind and not judge people on their houses, but this guy… was Slytherin at its worst. She didn't know how her father had allowed him to become one of the three, but she prayed to all the gods she had ever heard of that this second one might be someone she could live with. If he wasn't, she would be stuck with the third, give or take, win or lose. She could do nothing about it.

Trinity sat on the bench, fighting down tears. Her mother had had to go through this; her older sister had had to go through this. They were both happily married. She would be too. She just had to trust her father. That didn't prevent the nerves, though, as she saw the man emerge from the trees. He was tall, like Sirius was. She quickly banished that thought from her mind; she could no longer think of Sirius. The moon was behind him, and all Trinity could see was his outline. He was quite thin, like… he was thin. He walked with a funny spring in his step. Was he as nervous as she was? Did he know her? Did she know him? Well, she would find out.

The man came closer, and Trinity averted her gaze down into her lap. She felt him sit beside her, but she didn't look up until she knew she had herself in hand, and wouldn't cry. If only this he was different to the other one!

In the dark, she couldn't see his face. He didn't speak, so finally she felt as if she had to. "I suppose you know my name, Trinity. Do I know you?" She tried to make her voice light, tried to banish her worries. In the darkness next to her, the shadow took a breath.

"You do know my name. And I have come with your own father's permission, to ask your hand in marriage."

Trinity burst into tears.

"Hey Lily?" It was exactly one week after the wedding of Lisa and Douglass, and exactly a year from the day that Lily and James had served their first detention in the mooncalf hut. They were in their flat, sitting together on the couch.

"Hmm, James?" They had been living together for four months. They hadn't had a single fierce argument in that time, a record for them both. Sure, they had fought over who would cook breakfast, whose turn it was to go to Gringotts, but none of that was remotely above a friendly quarrel.

"Will you marry me?"

Lily realised that 'Of course, you idiot,'would not be an answer appropriate to tell their grandchildren. Instead, she just smiled and said yes. And then, when James looked pleasantly relieved but made no move towards her, she rolled her eyes and kissed him once more. "I love you, you know," she whispered to him. He smirked, and pulled her closer.

**A/N And this is the end. I've changed it to appease the cynic in myself (and in Katriona… yes, you have influence. Feel proud). I want to thank everyone who has reviewed, in both postings… You're all _really _wonderful. And that's all. Thanks once again! **


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